


Tales from Pete's World 2 - Look Who's Come to Dinner

by SciFiFanForever



Series: Tales from Pete's World [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-27
Updated: 2014-07-27
Packaged: 2018-02-10 16:47:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2032446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SciFiFanForever/pseuds/SciFiFanForever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. John Smith, the metacrisis Doctor, is living the one adventure he thought he could never have with his beautiful wife, Rose, when they have an unexpected visitor (or two).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write about the Doctor and Rose having a normal, married life but then thought that nothing they ever did was normal.  
> It stands alone as a story but follows the 'Tales From Pete's World' universe and makes reference to some events there.

 

** **

** Chapter 1 **

 

 

 

It was Wednesday, 11:15 in the morning. It was early autumn and the air was damp with miserable drizzle.

 

Rose Marion Smith (nee Tyler) was sitting on a comfy sofa in front of the traditional fire place, feeling the gentle heat from the glowing coals in the hearth.

 

While nursing her two month old son Eyulf Jackson, or EJ for short, she was stroking and teasing his soft, sticky-up brown hair that was just like his father’s.

 

A gentle kiss nuzzled the side of her neck and a mug of freshly percolated coffee was placed on the low table in front of her.

 

“Mmmm, that smells lovely. Thanks love.” She turned and kissed her husband lovingly on the lips.

 

“No problem sweetheart. Just having a quick break.” He leant down and kissed his son’s head.

 

“How’s it going?” she asked him.

 

“Good. Should be finished this afternoon and then I can submit the designs to Cybus Industries tomorrow” he replied.

 

Dr. John Smith was a part human, part Time Lord hybrid. By Time Lord standards he was a genius, which meant by Human standards his IQ was off the scale.

 

Their Victorian town house in Northumberland Place, Notting Hill had three lower ground floor storage vaults, one of which he had converted into a laboratory come workshop.

 

Today he was working from home on a financing project for Torchwood, a fast pursuit surveillance drone similar to the ‘spy-fly’ he developed last year. The drone would be marketed by Cybus Industries, and the profits used to fund the Torchwood Institute.

 

Over the last twelve months, he had designed a variety of gadgets for Torchwood to assist the field operatives and the forensic laboratories at Torchwood Tower. Many of them had gone into commercial production and were selling globally to various organisations that had a need for high tech devices.

 

He carried his coffee down the stairs to his lab so that he could carry on tinkering with the toy. He had always loved tinkering with things, even when he was a full Time Lord in another universe with his time machine.

 

Talking of which, he had a secret long term project brewing in a special pressurised container, which would be a surprise for Rose on her birthday.

 

He was shattifying a plasmic shell, which would modify the dimensional stabilizer on a chunk of TARDIS he had given himself on Bad Wolf beach.

 

Dr. Donna had suggested a foldback harmonic of 36.6 to accelerate the growth power by a factor of 59. However, his metacrisis brain had worked out that by using a heated, pressurised container, he could accelerate the shattifying process even more. Rose had no idea what he was up to, and he couldn’t wait to see her face when it was finished.

 

He took a sip of his coffee and unexpectedly he had a sudden shiver down his spine. ‘Good coffee’, he thought to himself with a shrug as he put the mug down and picked up a circuit board.

 

In the sitting room, EJ had finished feeding and Rose perched him on her knee, gently rubbing his back to get him to burp. She couldn’t help smiling at the face he pulled when she did this.

 

Distractedly, she thought she heard a bump through the ceiling, from their bedroom floor directly above her.

 

“Donna, did you hear something then?” she asked the house computer.

 

“Yes Rose. There was a sound of something falling on the floor in your bedroom.”

 

Donna-the-house was a positronic neural-net computer that John had installed and given the personality of their friend Donna Noble. The computer took care of all the house security, robotic vacuum cleaner, kettle, oven etc.

 

“Is John upstairs?” Rose asked, wondering if her husband had gone upstairs for some reason before going back to his lab.

 

“No Rose, John is in his lab,” Donna-the-house told her.

 

“Can you show me the bedroom camera and playback from a few seconds before the noise?”

 

The plasma TV on the wall came to life and Rose could see across the bedroom towards the door. The bed wasn’t visible as Donna-the-house was very discreet and no voyeur.

 

As Rose watched the playback, the screen flashed white and the bump was heard.

 

“Donna, can you ask John to come up please.”

 

“Already called him, he’s on his way.”

 

A minute later, John appeared in the sitting room. “What’s up?” he asked, sitting on the sofa and poking his son in the tummy.

 

“I heard a bump upstairs,” she told him. “And have a look at the video.”

 

Donna-the-house re-ran the video. John screwed his face in concerned concentration.

 

“Give me live feed please Donna, and pan the camera to the floor.”

 

As the camera panned down they could see something on the floor.

 

“Is that.... is that a body on our bedroom floor?” Rose asked disbelievingly.

 

“Donna, any life signs?” John asked.

 

“The object is cold. No pulse or respiration detected.”

 

John’s mobile started to play the theme from the Godfather; it was the personalised ring tone for Rose’s Dad, Pete Tyler. John answered the call.

 

“John! Are you and Rose alright?” he asked with concern. “The Operations Room have just told me they’ve detected some sort of anomaly centred on your location.”

 

“Funny you should say that Pete, I felt a shiver down my spine and Rose heard a bump upstairs. I’m just going to investigate.”

 

“I’m sending backup. Be careful John.”

 

John grinned. “Hey, it’s me,” he told Pete.

 

“That’s what I’m worried about.” Pete said before hanging up.

 

“Give me a stunner please Donna,” John said.

 

A three pin electrical socket under the TV slid out from the wall to reveal a tray behind it with a Torchwood stun gun inside. He picked it up and switched it on.

 

In his old skin, in the other universe, he had hated guns. They were inelegant and unforgiving as a weapon, whereas a sword had character, nobility and less of a lethal inevitability.

 

The stun gun however, could render your opponents unconscious without killing them. Everybody could live, it was brilliant.

 

“Keep EJ safe,” he told Rose. “I’m going to investigate.”

 

“John, be careful.” He leant forward and kissed her, and then left the sitting room. Rose turned back to the screen to keep an eye on events as they unfolded.

 

John carefully opened the bedroom door and looked in. He could see a lifeless, naked male body curled into the foetal position in the middle of the floor. The feet were towards him, and the arms and hands were held in front of the face.

 

He slowly crept forwards and looked down at the corpse. How the hell had it got here? Some sort of transmat maybe? Why our bedroom? The questions were whizzing through his head. He gently tapped the soles of the feet with his trainer.

 

 

He crouched down to better examine the corpse when it suddenly gave a moaning gasp as it took in a lungful of air. He leapt up and stood back, stun gun levelled at the now animated corpse.

 

“What the hell?!” he exclaimed. He hesitated by the door, that gasping moan, it sounded.... familiar.

 

“Pulse and respiratory movements detected. Body core temperature rising rapidly,” Donna-the-house reported.

 

“John, it could be a trap. You should get out of there and wait for backup.... although that gasp sounded awfully familiar,” Rose said over the intercom from downstairs.

 

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Suddenly the body rolled onto its back and sat up. It had a mop of dark hair, brilliant blue eyes and the whitest, most perfect smile he remembered seeing.

 

John could hear Rose’s footsteps running up the stairs as he stood rooted to the spot, not out of fear but out of utter amazement. Rose burst into the bedroom with EJ cradled in her arms and stood by John’s side, mouth wide open. They looked at each other and then at the naked person sat on the floor.

 

“Jack?!” they said in unison.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

The elderly lizard walked slowly across the flagstones of the temple, the ‘clacking’ of his staff of office the only sound in the dim twilight. He wanted to run, but his old body wouldn’t let him.

 

He came to a wooden door at the far side of the atrium and opened it with a groaning creak of the hinges. The room inside was lit by candles and the air was smoky and thick with incense.

 

“So, you have heard the news,” a croaky voice said from the shadows.

 

“Can it be true Prophetess, Seer of Ages?” the elderly lizard asked.

 

“The portents are there to be read, and I have felt him, the first random thoughts of the Kaliq-Farrash as he becomes aware.”

 

“And what of the prophecy, is it fulfilled?”

 

Out of the shadows, an ancient lizard leaned forward, illuminated by a nearby candle, her eyes white with blindness.

 

“He is the half breed son of half breed parents,” she responded. “He is in the womb of a Hooman-She Wolf, sired by a Hooman-Gallifreyan who was born without parents.”

 

The old lizard gasped. “Gallifrey is just a myth, a legend, consumed by a black hole at the dawn of the universe. And a Gallifreyan of Immaculate Conception? How can this be?”

 

“They are not of this universe,” the ancient one said simply.

 

The old lizard looked awestruck. “Then this Kaliq-Farrash IS the Messiah, the second coming.” He had tears in his eyes at the enormity of the realisation. “We must make preparations if we are to bring him home to fulfil his destiny.”

 

“Prepare carefully, for the Hooman-She Wolf will not relinquish her offspring without a fight, and the father will be relentless in his search for his family. You must be persuasive in your dealings with her and on your guard against him.”

 

“I will give your council careful deliberation. Thank you Seer of Ages.”

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

“DOCTOR! ROSIE!” the man said with an American accent. He leapt off the floor and grabbed John in a rib cracking hug. “It’s so good to see you again.”

 

“Jack.... you’ve got no clothes on,” John said, feeling rather uncomfortable at being hugged by a naked Jack Harkness. Why did he get the feeling that Jack had always wanted to do that?

 

Jack released the hug and looked down at his ‘well fit’ naked body before giving them an even larger smile.

 

“It’s the only way to travel,” he said, winking at Rose and enveloping her in a gentler hug. He kissed her on the cheek and heard a muffled grizzle from between them. He then noticed that Rose was holding something in her arms.

 

“Who’s this then?” he asked her.

 

Rose looked down at EJ and then smiled warmly at Jack.

 

“This is our son,” she said simply. “Eyulf.”

 

The look of realisation hit him and his mouth fell open.

 

“Your son? He’s adorable. This must mean you two finally got it on after all that pussyfooting around and flirting with each other.”

 

“What the hell are you doing here Jack?” John asked, and then realised what Jack had said. “I did not flirt!” he protested.

 

Jack turned to face him and tilted his head to one side, putting his fists on his hips. “Trust me Doc, it takes one to know one, so take it from the master, you were flirting!” Rose snorted a laugh.

 

The sight of a naked Jack Harkness standing in his bedroom  with his hands on his hips, telling him he was a flirt was one image too far for John. He went to the bedroom door and took his bathrobe off the hook on the back of the door.

 

“Here, put this on, and then you can tell us how the hell you ended up in our bedroom,” John said as he threw him the robe.

 

“Spoilsport,” Donna-the-house said.

 

“Donna Noble? Is that you?” Jack asked as he put on the robe and looked around the room. “By the way, I like what you’ve done with the TARDIS. It’s got a sort of retro urban London feel to it.”

 

“That’s because it is urban London you dope,” Rose told him. “This is our house, and Donna is the house computer. John programmed it with her personality.”

 

Jack was trying to take this information in when Donna-the-house spoke again.

 

“Torchwood are here John, shall I let them in?”

 

“Yes please Donna. Tell them no guns, and we’ll meet them in the living room. Oh, and pop the kettle on please.”

 

Over a hot cup of tea, Jack started to tell his story to the assembled group. Jake Simmonds was the team leader, with him were his operations partner Julia De Graff, along with Craig Rimmer and Clive Simpson. Julia was cuddling EJ and cooing over him.

 

“I was in the Hub in Cardiff, working on a new artefact that had just been brought in. I think it was a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator, similar to the one Margaret the Slitheen had acquired.”

 

“That surfboard thing?” Rose asked.

 

“Yeah, that’s the one,” he grinned, remembering their stop over in Cardiff. “I was thinking about you two as I was checking the anti-matter power unit. I think it shorted out, because there was a flash of light and I woke up here.”

 

“Hmmm, a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator wouldn’t be able to transport you across the void Jack. We need to get you to Torchwood and do some tests,” John told him.

 

“The void?” Jack asked the Doctor.

 

“Er.... I think there’s something you should know Jack,” Rose said.

 

John and Rose were members of Torchwood Special Operations Blue Watch, and all members of the Watch knew their history and kept it to themselves. The other Watches knew nothing of alternate universes and time travelling aliens.

 

“He’s not the Doctor you think he is.” Rose told him.

 

After the Crucible incident, all Jack knew was that the Doctor, Rose, Donna and the metacrisis Doctor had left in the TARDIS together. Jack looked at Rose, looked at the Doctor, looked at EJ and then back to the Doctor.

 

The penny dropped. “You’re the other guy, the metacrisis Doctor.”

 

Rose winced on John’s behalf, he didn’t like that title. “This is Dr. John Smith,” Rose announced. “My husband.”

 

“You two got married? You’re just full of surprises; I didn’t think you did domestic Doc.” Jack was grinning madly. “Sorry I missed that one.”

 

“So were we Jack,” Rose said. “But we’ve got a brilliant video of it.”

 

“I was John’s Best Man,” Jake said. “But I know he’d have wanted you for the gig if you’d been around.”

 

John shot a look at Jake as though he shouldn’t have told him that, but Jack just grinned. “Always the Best Man, never the bride,” he teased. Rose nearly choked on her tea; Jack was always flirting with the Doctor, even in his previous incarnation.

 

Jake and the team finished their teas and coffees and said their goodbye’s. John and Rose thanked them for their backup and told them they would be at Torchwood later with Jack.

 

John found a tracksuit that wasn’t a bad fit for Jack and a pair of flip-flops for his feet, John’s trainers just wouldn’t fit.

 

Rose got EJ dressed and secured him in the carry-seat for the car.

 

“OK then, let’s go and find out how you were able to get here,” John said. “See you later Donna, keep an eye on things,” he said as they headed for the front door.

 

“Of course John. And make sure you bring that eye-candy back with you.”

 

Jack looked up to the ceiling and grinned. Rose rolled her eyes and laughed; now he was flirting with a house, brilliant.

 

They walked down the steps to the pavement and turned left into their parking area in front of the house. Jack burst out laughing.

 

“A Delorian! You’ve got a Delorian, that is SO you,” he told them.

 

Rose pulled the passenger seat forwards and climbed into the back with EJ. The original Delorian was a two seater, but John had adapted the car after fitting the superconducting electric motors which left more room for back seats.

 

John reversed off the parking space and set off down the road. Rose was brimming with questions about the other universe, and started hesitantly.

 

“Have.... have you seen Him since he dropped us off here?” She was biting her lower lip.

 

Jack turned in his seat so that he could better talk to them and shook his head. “No, he hasn’t called in at Cardiff since then. But the websites are full of sightings and gossip, so he’s still out there, fighting the fight,” Jack smiled and then his eyes went sad.

 

“Only....” He hesitated. He knew Rose would worry about this.

 

“I received a message on my computer in the Hub.” He gave a single laugh. “It’s secret and un-hackable, and there it was on the screen.”

 

He looked Rose in the eye. “He took Donna home and removed her memories of her time with him.”

 

Rose gasped. “What? Why?” She was immediately concerned, it meant the bravest woman she had ever known had no memory of her amazing adventures.

 

“I was afraid of that,” John said looking over at them. “A Time Lord consciousness doesn’t fit in a human brain. It’s like putting too much current through a light bulb, it burns brighter for a while and then it burns out.”

 

“Oh, poor Donna,” Rose said, and then realised the implications.

 

“But John, that means he’s all alone. You know what he’s like when he’s got no one to look out for him.” She was referring to the time when Donna had a time beetle on her back. She had made different decisions; never met the Doctor and he had died when she wasn’t there to save him.

 

“Well, I may be able to put your mind at rest there,” Jack told her. “Some of the gossip says that he is travelling with a young Scottish girl, a red head.”

 

“Hah! I always liked red hair,” John said as he looked at them. Then he saw Rose’s face. “But I LOVE blonde,” he said quickly. Jack was grinning at them but quickly turned serious.

 

“There’s something else on the websites. I didn’t believe it when I saw you this morning, but now I know the facts....” He took a deep breath. “He’s regenerated.”

 

Rose instinctively reached forwards and gripped John’s shoulder.

 

“There was an incident in this small place called Leadworth. An escaped prisoner and an Atraxi prison ship. We mobilized to go and sort it out, but it was sorted before we got halfway there.”

 

“So, you didn’t actually see him then?” Rose asked.

 

“No, being a village, it didn’t have many surveillance cameras to hack into. We checked the social networks and found photos taken on phones that showed a guy with floppy hair wearing a bowtie, with this ‘hot’ chick dressed as a WPC.”

 

Jack grinned again. “Her skirt looked far too short to be regulation issue for the Metropolitan Police.”

 

“Well that’s not so bad then is it? A new body, a new companion. D’you think he’ll be alright?” she asked John.

 

“Yeah, he’s always alright,” John replied. Rose rolled her eyes, he always said that. “He’ll still be missing you though, even with a new companion to distract him,” he told her.

 

They were driving down Bayswater Road alongside Hyde Park when Rose asked another question.

 

“Have you seen Mickey lately Jack? D’you know how he’s doin’?”

 

“What? Mickey boy? He’s doing fine. When the Doc dropped us off after the Crucible incident, I went back to Torchwood and Martha went to UNIT. She put in a word with them and they hired him on the spot, what with his experience with Torchwood over here. He’s now the liaison operative between the two organisations and he’s really good at it.”

 

Jack hesitated before continuing, he wasn’t sure how Rose would react to the next bit.

 

“Mickey and Martha are.... a bit of an item now.” He looked over to Rose in the backseat, who was grinning.

 

“That’s brilliant. They’ll be really good together. I’m glad he’s finally found someone who’s right for him.”

 

“Smith and Jones, what a team they’ll make,” John said with a laugh.

 

Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

 

“Hey, me and Mickey had something once, but I’ve got my man now,” she said, smiling in John’s direction.

 

“Lucky girl,” Jack said. “I always hoped I stood a chance.”

 

John shot him a worried glance. “Yeah, but who with?” Jack winked at Rose and she burst out laughing.

 

“Oh, I forgot to mention before, Donna got married,” he continued in a conversational tone.

 

“You mean she found someone who could put up with her?” John asked grinning.

 

“Yeah, a guy named Shaun. And apparently someone gave them a lottery ticket as a wedding present. They hit the jackpot on a triple rollover; it made them multi millionaires overnight.”

 

“No way!” Rose said from the back. “That’s fantastic. I know it doesn’t make up for losing her memories, they’re priceless, but it’s good to know that everything is going okay over there.”

  
“And over here too,” Jack said as he smiled at EJ in the baby seat.

  



	2. Old times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dr. Smith takes their new visitor to Torchwood to find out how he got there. Someone else is approaching the outer edges of the solar system.

 

** Chapter 2 **

 

 

 

John drove the DeLorian east alongside the Thames and half an hour later they pulled into the underground car park at Torchwood Tower. At reception, he arranged for a guest pass for Jack and they headed up to the top floor to Pete’s office.

 

Progress was slow as they had to keep stopping for their friends and colleagues to admire young EJ, but eventually they made it to his glass fronted office.

 

“Rose, John,” Pete called out as he stood up and walked from behind his desk. He gave Rose a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

 

“And how’s my grandson?” he cooed, gently rubbing EJ’s cheek with his finger.

 

“Grandson?” Jack said looking at Rose. “Does that mean this is your father?”

 

“Dad, this is our friend Jack Harkness. Jack, this is my Dad Pete, current director of Torchwood.”

 

“Jack Harkness? THE Jack Harkness, the one EJ is named after?”

 

“The very same,” Rose said beaming a smile. Pete held out his hand and shook Jack’s vigorously.

 

“You named your son after me?” Jack said looking at Rose as he shook hands.

 

“Of course, Eyulf Jackson, EJ,” Rose replied. Jack was bristling with pride.

 

He turned to face Pete. “It is so nice to meet you Mr. Tyler.”

 

“Please, call me Pete, and the pleasure is all mine. Rose and John talk about you all the time.”

 

“Really? Oh you guys, that’s so sweet.”

 

“OK Jack, don’t let it go to your head. Let’s get you down to the Hospital floor and see if we can find some answers,” John said.

 

John and Rose sat in the waiting room with staff cooing over EJ while Jack was having a full medical in the examination room. A female nurse came out blushing, with a smile on her face.

 

John and Rose looked at each other and grinned. When the male doctor came out all flustered, they looked at each other again and burst out laughing.

 

John stood up and walked over to the door.

 

“Jack!” he called through the closed door. “Stop it.”

 

“What? I was only saying hello,” he called back. Rose was in fits of giggles.

 

The medical results showed that Jack was in perfect health and there was nothing unusual in any of the samples or scans taken. Jack emerged from the examination room, pulling on the tracksuit top and putting a piece of paper in the pocket.

 

Rose looked at Jack with an enquiring look and he grinned.

 

“I got a phone number.”

 

“Yeah, but who’s,” John asked. “Come on, let’s go to my lab in Forensics, I need to do some tests of my own.”

 

In his lab, John ran a number of high tech devices over Jacks body and put the medical samples through more tests.

 

“No artron energy. No void stuff, how can you be here without any of that on you? This doesn’t make any sense.” John was staring at the readouts.

 

“Do you have all your memories? When did you first meet Rose?”

 

“That’s easy, she had a union jack T-shirt, and as she hung from a barrage balloon above the Thames, I couldn’t help but notice she had a great ass.

 

“Jack!” Rose exclaimed.

 

“Sorry Rosie, but you do have a great ass,” he said with his wicked grin.

 

“And me?” John asked.

 

“Okay Doc, you have a great ass too.” John looked indignant and Rose howled with laughter.

 

“Thank you Jack, but I meant can you remember when you first met me.”

 

“Oh. Albion Hospital. You were Mr. Spock, all big ears and moody, wrapped in a rather cool leather jacket.”

 

“Hmm, nothing wrong with your memory. Oh, I know, isotopes. Let’s have a look at your isotope decay.”

 

John went over to an analyser and ran the samples through it. After a few minutes, the results were displayed on the screen.

 

“Oh this is telling,” John said bouncing on his toes. “Jack, according to your carbon 14 isotope decay, you are only a few hours old. I think I know what’s happened.”

 

“A few hours old?” Jack said disbelieving.

 

“Yep. It wasn’t a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator you were working on; it was a tribo-psycho-physical harmonic macro-kinetic resonator.”

 

“Ah, right,” Jack said. “What’s one of those then?”

 

“Well, I’ve only heard about them, never actually seen one. They are a last ditch life preserver developed by the Inducee of Trembis five.” John leaned back against the bench and crossed his arms.

 

“Let’s say your ship is crippled and about to blow up or the life support fails, you activate the device and think about where you would rather be. The device takes a complete pattern of all your atoms and through resonance creates another you in that place from locally available atoms.”

 

“What? You mean there’s another Jack back on the other Earth?” Rose asked.

 

“Well, actually he’s the original Jack; this is the ‘other’ Jack. The original person is humanely euthanized by the device to spare them the trauma of their ship blowing up or their air running out. So I guess Jack has woken up over there wondering what the hell happened.”

 

“So he’s in a similar position to you then John, a mirror man,” Rose said.

 

“Mirror man?” Jack asked her, but John explained.

 

“It’s a way I used to explain my existence to Rose. You look in a mirror and see a person who is you, who has your personality, all your memories and feelings.”

 

“Hmm, good analogy. So I’m stuck here then?”

 

“Yeah, afraid so old friend, and you are probably mortal, so no more cheating death for you,” John told him.

 

“Hey, it’s not so bad over here,” Rose told him cheerfully. “And you’ve got us.” She reached over and gave him a big hug.

 

John walked over and put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Let’s head to the restaurant and grab something to eat, we need to discuss your future Jack. Rose, do you want to give your Dad a call and see if he’s free for lunch.”

 

In the restaurant, Rose was eating a jacket potato with salad while John fed EJ with a bottle of expressed milk. Jack and Pete were tucking into some sandwiches.

 

“So Pete, how would you feel about taking on a senior field operative with loads of experience?” John asked the current director of Torchwood.

 

Pete laughed. “I get the feeling I may not have a say in this.”

 

“We’ll vouch for him Dad, and a recommendation from John is a pretty good reference in itself.”

 

“Yeah, OK already. How do you feel about it Jack?” Pete asked seriously.

 

“Well I’m still a bit stunned. I didn’t expect to end up in another universe when I got out of bed this morning. If I’m staying, I guess I’ll need a job and everything,” he said with a sigh.

 

“John and Rose told me that you were director of Torchwood Three in Cardiff. With that experience, you’d make a good deputy director here as well as a great member of John and Rose’s team. What do you say?” Pete held out his hand.

 

“I’d say ‘thanks for the offer’, I’ll take it.” Jack shook Pete’s hand and gave him his perfect teeth smile.

 

“So, that’s a job sorted,” John said as he burped EJ. “Now we need to get you some clothes and a place to live.”

 

“I can take Jack shopping at Henrick’s this afternoon,” Rose suggested.

 

“And we have plenty of rooms at the mansion you could use until you find your feet,” Pete said.

 

“You guys are incredible. Thank you so much,” Jack’s face had a sincere look that he didn’t show very often.

 

Rose leaned over, kissed his cheek and hugged him. “What are friends for?”

 

In Henrick’s, Jack was flirting with the personal shopper while Rose was trying to explain between fits of laughter, that he wasn’t EJ’s father and that they weren’t a couple.

 

When they left Henrick’s, Jack was loaded with bags full of clothes, and he was wearing jeans, sweatshirt and a leather jacket. There was one more stop he wanted to make before Rose called John to collect them.

 

In an Army and Navy store, he bought his RAF trousers, shirt, braces and grey coat. He explained to Rose that he would feel more at home in his old outfit.

 

John picked them up in the DeLorian and headed northeast for the 30 minute journey to the Tyler Mansion.

 

“As soon as I can afford it, I’ll give you the money for all these clothes Rose,” Jack told her.

 

“No you won’t! They’re a gift from us to you.” Rose reached forward and put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s our way of saying welcome to this world. I’ve only had my Mum and John to talk to about the old world and having another friend from there is great.”

 

She could see Jack wasn’t comfortable accepting all these expensive clothes as a gift.

 

“C’mon, don’t worry about it, when you see Mum and Dad’s place you’ll understand. In this world we’re loaded,” she said with a grin.

 

They pulled in front of Tyler Mansion and got out of the car. Jack whistled through his teeth. “Wow, you weren’t kidding, this place is amazing.”

 

They walked up the steps and the front door opened as they reached it. The house manager, Alistair was standing in the doorway smiling at them. He was dressed in his usual conservative ‘sharp’ suit and immaculate hair.

 

“Alistair, how’s it going?” John said as he bumped fists with him.

 

“It is going good Dr. Smith thank you.”

 

Rose kissed Alistair on the cheek. “Good to see you Alistair.”

 

“And you Mrs. Smith. How is young master Smith? He seems to get bigger every time I see him.” Alistair leant forward and looked into the carry-seat.

 

Rose smiled. “He certainly has a good appetite.” As Rose was speaking, a hand extended past her.

 

“Hi. Jack Harkness’s the name. Really pleased to meet you.” Jack had his winning, boyish smile.

 

“Jack,” John and Rose said together in a warning tone.

 

Alistair shook his hand, raising an eyebrow in question. “Alistair, house manager. Pleased to make your acquaintance Mr. Harkness.”

 

“He’s already spoken for Jack, so you can stop flirting,” Rose told him. Alistair had a surprised look on his face, which made Rose grin.

 

At their wedding, Jake Simmonds had hired a video karaoke machine to get the party going. Alistair had stunned everyone with his Freddie Mercury rendition of ‘I Want To Break Free’.

 

The other top performer was Rose’s bereavement counsellor Alice Dimaggio, who had helped Rose when she first came to this world and was separated from the Doctor. Alice belted out ‘Shout’ by Lulu, which impressed everyone, including Alistair.

 

A few days after the wedding, Alistair invited Alice to a karaoke night down at the local pub and they quickly found they had a lot in common. And so their secret romance began.

 

“Your secret is safe with me,” Rose whispered with a tongue in the teeth smile. After Rose’s counselling, Alice had become a close friend and they talked about everything.

 

“Thank you,” he said sincerely. He then straightened and took on his official role as manager. “The lady of the house is in the lounge, having her IQ reduced by one of the TV soaps.”

 

As they walked down the hall, Jack looked back at Alistair as he closed the door. “I like him,” he told them.

 

John opened the lounge door and said ‘knock knock’ as he walked in.

 

“John, Rose, what a lovely surprise,” Jackie said as she rose from the sofa. “And how’s my lovely grandson? C’mon, hand ‘im over.”

 

“Before I do Mum, we’ve brought a visitor to see you.” At that point Jack walked into the room.

 

Jackie just stood there, speechless. Her brain was trying to take in the scene before her. It looked like that gorgeous hunk Jack Harkness, the one that came back to life and kept her, Sarah Jane and Mickey safe in that Dalek ship.

 

“Jack? Is that you?”

 

“Hello gorgeous. How are you?” Jack stepped forwards and enveloped her in a huge hug.

 

“Oh my God, it is you!” She grabbed his face and snogged him.

 

“Mum! Put him down,” Rose said, embarrassed.

 

“Wha’? Oh, alright. Sorry Jack, I got a bit carried away.”

 

Jack was grinning madly. “No problem Ma’am. I’m glad to see you too.”

 

“Jack’s been stranded here like us,” Rose started to explain.

 

“Not on that bleedin’ beach I hope,” Jackie said.

 

John laughed. “No, he ended up naked in our bedroom.... Oh, I probably shouldn’t have told you that.” Jackie’s eyes went wide in surprise.

 

“Anyway Mum, Dad said he could stay here for a bit until he can sort out somewhere to live.”

 

Jackie put a hand to Jack’s cheek. “Of course you can stay Jack. Stay as long as you like, it’ll be nice to have some company. The old place seems a bit empty since Rose and John moved out, I’ll get Jenny to make a room up for you.”

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

The Oort cloud is an area at the outer limits of the solar system, almost a light year from the sun. It consists of the leftover material from the formation of the sun and all of its planets. Not much happens out here, the occasional long period comet would return from its unrelenting journey to the sun and back.

 

Today though, there was an intruder. A sleek and elegant craft was nearing the end of its six month journey towards the third planet from the star. The ship had been built by engineers, but it had be designed and styled by artists, it truly was a beautiful ship.

 

The occupants had travelled halfway across the galaxy on a quest to find the religious leader of their discordant worlds. It had been foretold that an unusual child, born of unusual parents would unite the worlds in a golden age of peace and prosperity, and he had been born on the third planet of this particular star.

 

The current leader was onboard the ship and was negotiating with a devout religious sect on the planet that was sympathetic to the needs of their religion, and for a fee would arrange the delivery of the child and its mother safely into their care.

 

To say that nothing happened in the Oort cloud for billions of years, it was getting a bit hectic. A week later, on the other side of the cloud, a saucer shaped craft passed through, following a long forgotten radio transmission from the third planet from the star, and picking up new ones as it approached.

 

It was an explorer scout craft that roamed the galaxy looking for new worlds and new civilizations. It had detected a very weak, modulated radio signal spreading outwards from its source around a hundred light years away.

 

When the signal was demodulated, the voices of Riccardo Martin, Emmy Destinn and Enrico Caruso could be heard performing Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City in 1910.

 

That first radio broadcast was travelling away from the Earth at the speed of light, followed by nearly a hundred years worth of other transmissions.

 

As the ship approached, the occupants detected evermore powerful and complex signals, including encoded video and digital. They had no idea what significance the transmissions had, but were eager to find out.

 

Presently on the screen, they could see two bipedal life forms in suits and round hats, modifying an aquatic vessel with little success. It appeared that they lacked the necessary skills and were causing a great deal of damage to the vessel.

 

The science officer realised that he would need to ask the inhabitants of the planet about Laurel and Hardy. He took his eye away from the screen and reported to the commander.

 

“The third planet orbiting the star is the source of the transmissions,” he announced.

 

“Set a course for that planet, we must investigate,” the commander instructed.

 

“I will obey,” the helmsman said.

 

Various officers on the bridge took up the commander’s chant. “Investigate. Investigate.”

 


	3. Kidnap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I only ever remember Rose having an action scene when she grabbed a chain and swung across to kick a mannequin off the Doctor. I though it was about time she kicked some ass, after all she is a Torchwood agent. John (the Doctor) starts to feel inadequate and impotent.

 

** Chapter 3 **

 

 

 

Rose and Jack were Christmas shopping in the West End of London, looking for presents for John. EJ was now 5 months old and was in the pushchair, looking puzzled and bemused at all the sights and noises around him.

 

They were in a small gift shop in a quiet side street just off Oxford Street, the kind of shop that gives you the feeling of an Aladdin’s Cave when you walk in.

 

Rose had spotted the perfect present when she walked through the door. It was an old tin money box in the shape of an old blue police box. She took it off the shelf and inspected it. She could fill it with his favourite banana fudge toffees.

 

“Look what you’re getting Daddy for Christmas,” she said, showing it to EJ. He reached up and grabbed it and proceeded to put it to his mouth and lick it.

 

Rose looked at Jack and laughed. “Just what his Daddy would do.”

 

Jack flashed his perfect smile. “Superior Gallifreyan taste buds,” he laughed. He was looking for a gift for the two of them, and he liked the look of an oriental incense burner in the shape of a dragon.

 

Having paid for the gift, Rose put it in her shopping bag under the pushchair and they left the shop.

 

“Mrs Smith, you will come with me,” a foreign voice said in her ear as a hand gripped her right elbow. Through her thick winter coat, she could feel the muzzle of a gun poking into her ribs.

 

“Wha?” she said as she turned to look at the man who was assailing her.

 

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” Jack asked, moving to protect Rose.

 

PFUTT.

 

Rose knew the sound of a silenced gun and she was suddenly filled with dread.

 

Jack’s expression went from puzzled, to astonished and then realisation as he clutched his chest. Rose screamed and EJ started to cry, as Jack wordlessly fell backwards onto the pavement.

 

The assailant was returning the gun to its original target when Rose’s Torchwood training kicked in. She was no longer the meek shop girl from the Powell estate, who looked like a ‘yummy mummy’, what with her pretty face, blond hair and gorgeous figure.

 

She was a kick ass momma, a Special Operations Agent who had been trained by the best. Time slowed and she was surprised that she could watch what she was doing as though she were an observer.

 

Her left hand grabbed the wrist that was holding the gun and stopped it from pointing at her. As fast as a cobra’s strike, the fingers of her right hand shot forwards and jabbed into the man’s eyes.

 

‘If they can’t see you, they can’t hit you’, she heard Captain McNab telling her. Andy McNab was ex-SAS and knew how to fight dirty and fight to survive.

 

She tensed her hand and the edge of it caught her assailant full on the Adam’s apple. She heard him gasp for breath.

 

‘If they can’t breath, they can’t put up a prolonged fight.’

 

Even with her short, designer leather skirt restricting her movements, her final move was the finisher. Her knee high leather boot connected with his groin and lifted him off the floor. She heard him make a gasping sort of squeak.

 

Amazingly, as her body was doing all this, she thought about how she liked to wear short skirts but her life in the TARDIS rarely allowed for it. They needed to be ready to run at a moments notice, and a short skirt could hinder that.

 

She had worn her denim mini when they had a stop over in Cardiff and she had arranged to meet Mickey. She hadn’t thought she would need to run in Cardiff. And then there was her denim mini dungaree dress she had worn to the 1979 Ian Dury concert, no running needed there (if she had actually managed to get there).

 

As he hit the floor, her knee made contact with the back of his straight elbow. The man screamed as his elbow exceeded its supposed range of movement. He released his grip on the weapon and Rose took it and fired at a black Range Rover with tinted windows that was waiting on the opposite side of the road.

 

Her heightened senses had spotted the door open and a black suited man start to climb out carrying a firearm.

 

PFUTT, PFUTT, PFUTT.

 

The man fell back into the car and someone pulled him in as more black suited men appeared from the far side of the vehicle.

 

Now Rose had been trained by one of the best, but she wasn’t an SAS soldier. She was distracted by thoughts of keeping her son safe and by concern for her best friend who had been shot in the chest.

 

She picked her targets and fired carefully, just as McNab had taught her. But with three gunmen, the last one targeted had a distinct advantage over the other two.

 

PFUTT.

 

Rose felt a sharp pain below her left collarbone just before everything went black.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

John was in the Special Operations standby room, tucking into a toasted banana sandwich that he had made in the kitchen area with his temporary partner Gwen O’Toole. They had about another month together before Rose came back to work.

 

He liked Gwen, whose nickname was ‘numbers’, because she had a quick mind for calculus. They would throw maths and logic problems at each other to pass the time.

 

John would keep his questions within a human brain’s capabilities, whereas Gwen would try her hardest to stump him. She hadn’t succeeded yet.

 

“Why aren’t you a professor of mathematics at one of the premier universities?” John asked her as he took another bite of his hot sandwich.

 

“Probably for the same reason you aren’t a professor of physics, or engineering, or electronics, or.... Shall I go on?” she replied with a smile.

 

“My head is wired for maths, but my body is wired for adventure. I want to be out there in the thick of it, and if I can use maths while I’m out there then that’s great.” She bit into her sandwich and waved her hand in front of her mouth, blowing out air. The sandwich was hot, but delicious.

 

“Hah! Kindred spirits. I knew there was a reason I liked you,” he said grinning. He was about to take another bite, when he had a sudden chill that made him shudder.

 

“Are you alright John?” Gwen had noticed the sudden change in his face and body.

 

He didn’t answer her. Instead he put down his sandwich and took out his mobile phone and speed dialled Rose. He waited while the phone rang and rang before going to voicemail.

 

“Rose? What’s happening? Call me back as soon as you can please. I love you.”

 

He ended the call and speed dialled Jack. He knew they had gone to the West End to do some Christmas shopping. Jack’s phone also rang and rang but then he heard a voice.

 

“Hello, who is this?” the female voice that wasn’t Jack’s asked.

 

John started to feel sick as his stomach contracted with dread. He knew something bad had happened, he had felt it. He had a mild empathic link with Rose and felt her fear and anxiety. He had a telepathic link with EJ and had heard him cry out when he heard his mother scream and seen her fighting with someone.

 

“I’m a Torchwood agent, John Smith. You have the phone of another agent. I need you to tell me what has happened,” John said. He gestured to Gwen and pointed to the phone and then to the door of the Operations room.

 

Gwen understood immediately. She nodded and ran through to the Operations room to start getting a triangulation on the phones. John stood and picked up his kitbag, ready to start moving to the express elevator.

 

Jake and Julia had picked up on the tension and grabbed their gear as well. Working in small units meant that they quickly picked up on each others body language and could often mobilize without a word being uttered.

 

John found out that the woman on the phone was Eunice, the owner of the shop that Rose and Jack had been shopping in. She described as best she could the events that had occurred in front of her shop. She was terribly upset and obviously in shock.

 

“We need paramedics on the scene ASAP,” John said as the fast response car sped down the road. The woman had told him that the man had been shot in the chest.

 

“The woman agent put up a fantastic fight until she was shot in the shoulder and bundled into a car along with the baby. It was a black Range Rover with tinted windows. I didn’t get the number because I haven’t got my glasses on,” she said.

 

“That’s okay Eunice, you’re doing just great,” John reassured her. He wished someone could reassure him. He had just learned that his wife had been shot and then kidnapped along with his son, and he was having to keep calm to keep his star witness calm.

 

“Gwen, get dispatch to track Rose’s phone and get the traffic cameras to track a black Range Rover with tinted windows leaving the area at speed.”

 

He went back to the phone. “Right Eunice, I need you to be brave and check on the man who was shot. His name is Jack, and I need you to tell me if he has a pulse and if he’s conscious.”

 

“I’ve done basic first aid for my business, hang on and I’ll see what I can do.” The phone went quiet for a while and then she came back.

 

“He has a strong pulse and seems to be asleep. I checked the chest wound and was surprised that there was no blood. When I examined him, he had some kind of dart sticking out of his chest,” she reported.

 

“A tranquilizer! Oh thank the Vortex,” he said with relief. At least he knew Rose wasn’t seriously injured.

 

“Eunice, can you stay with Jack until our paramedics get there and the Police will want a statement from you. We’re going after the female agent and the baby.”

 

“Of course John. Good luck.”

 

John hung up the phone and studied the satellite tracking system in the car which showed Rose’s phone signal moving along the streets on the map. It was currently on the A4, moving west.

 

“Okay Jake, that dot on the screen is the most important thing in this or any other universe. Go get ‘em.” He hit the ‘nav’ function and the unit calculated an intercept course. Jake hit the sirens and the blue flashing radiator lights.

 

All Special Operations field agents had taken the SAS Advanced Vehicle Handling course which turned driving into an art form. ‘Turn left’ the unit said, and proceeded to give rapid instructions, taking into account the speed that Jake was driving at.

 

The signal left the A4 in Chiswick and started moving along suburban streets. Jake was making good progress when the signal from Rose’s phone stopped moving. The tension in the car went up a notch.

 

“Okay, stay sharp people,” Julia said as they got closer and closer to the signal, which turned out to be in Sutton Lane North.

 

John took his tablet PC out of his bag and switched it on. It also showed the signal on a map but it was at a much higher resolution. Jake quietly parked the car outside a block of three storey regency flats, and the four occupants darted out of the vehicle and took up covering positions.

 

John crept forwards, using a low wall and privet hedge for cover, until he was on top of the signal. It was then that his heart sank and he fell into despair. There on the other side of the low wall was Rose’s leather phone case; he had bought it for her in April as a birthday present.

 

He stood up, walked over and picked up the phone. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. He was a Torchwood agent, but more than that he was the Doctor, and the Doctor saves people, and most precious things in his oh-so long life had been taken from him.

 

There was a darkness in those brown eyes, a darkness that would make a Dalek tremble, and they didn’t even feel fear. There was a storm coming and he didn’t know if he could control it, not without Rose, and that scared him.

 

“JULIA!” He turned and walked back to the car. “Call up the traffic cameras and let’s find those bastards.”

 

The three agents were stunned. They rarely heard him swear, and more disturbing was the sound of his voice, it reverberated in their heads.

 

Jake continued driving in the general direction that the kidnappers had been going, but at Chiswick High Road, they could have gone left, right or straight on.

 

“Which way now?” Jake asked no one in particular.

 

John closed his eyes and calmed his mind, reaching out to his son. He could feel him, all emotions and confusion. He knew it wasn’t his normal routine, and why was mummy asleep during the day?

 

John tried to see through his eyes, but he was only five months old and hadn’t learnt to control his eyes that well. Besides, he was in a car seat and couldn’t see out of the windows.

 

“I don’t know,” He said defeated. “We’ll have to wait for the traffic cameras to spot them.” He hated being so helpless, having to wait for information, it went against every instinct in his body.

 

Five agonising minutes later, Dispatch called on the car transceiver.

 

“Target acquired, heading east. Sending the coordinates to your nav unit,” Chrissie Anderson told them.

 

‘Turn right onto the A315 and continue straight on’, the nav unit directed.

 

Jake floored the pedal and the wheels screeched as he threw the car around the corner. They were back on the scent, and he wasn’t going to let his friends down.

 

Torchwood had got one of their high performance airships above the Range Rover now and there would be no evading capture for the would be kidnappers. The video feed from the airship was streamed directly to the pursuit car as the nav unit synchronised data with the sensors above them.

 

John had got his ‘fire’ back now and he reached into his bag and pulled out a tablet computer and what looked like a model jet aircraft. Once the tablet was on, he wound down the window and threw the drone out.

 

“Time to try out the ‘hawk’,” he said. It was the larger and faster version of the ‘spy-fly’, a surveillance tool he had designed for field agents that could check out a location before anyone entered.

 

This one could travel up to 200 miles an hour and easily keep up with a speeding car. The hawk flew itself once it had acquired a target, and the operator just had to fine tune the movements to look in windows etc.

 

The optical camera was useless against the tinted windows, so John switched to thermal imaging. Even with the windows closed, the ultra sensitive detectors could see the heat signatures of the occupants.

 

John’s heart sank again. There was only one heat signature in the car, the driver. In the time that the car had been off camera, they had switched vehicles.

 

“Isn’t that just wizard! They’ve flimflammed us,” he said. “Intercept the target immediately, we have to find out how and when they switched vehicles.”

 

Chrissie on Dispatch put out the call and a number of Torchwood 4X4’s boxed in the Range Rover and brought it to a halt. John ran to the Range Rover and wrenched open the driver’s door.

 

The young woman in the drivers seat squealed as the door flew open.

 

“Right then sunshine, where are they?!” John demanded in full Donna mode. “I want the make, model and registration number. NOW!”

 

The woman was trembling and incoherent. He could see she was terrified, and he could also see, now that he’d stopped to look, that she was wearing the uniform of a national car hire firm.

 

“I.... I.... I was asked to pick up the car from this address and return it to our office.” She started to cry as she reached over to the passenger seat with trembling hands and passed the clipboard to John.

 

The address on the sheet was miles away; they had passed it when they were chasing the Range Rover. They had driven right past Rose and EJ and not even known it. The feeling of guilt and inadequacy were overwhelming.

 

“What’s your name?” he asked, his voice breaking.

 

“R, R, Rose sir. Rose Stevens.”

 

‘Fate and coincidence could be cruel at times’ John thought as he sank to his knees. “Rose? I’m sorry Rose. I’m so sorry.”

 

Gwen put a hand on his shoulder. “C’mon John, we need to check out this address.”

 

John stood up. ‘Why hadn’t he thought of that?’ His human, Donna side was getting in the way; he needed to focus his Gallifreyan brain.

 

Julia spoke to the terrified woman in the car. “His wife and son have been kidnapped; he’s not normally like this. Here, have some water.” She handed her a small bottle of water and helped her out of the car.

 

“That’s awful,” Rose said looking back at John with concern. “And the kidnappers used me as a decoy?”

 

“Yes they did, and you may have some vital information that will help to catch them. I’d like you to have a seat in this 4X4 and give a statement to these agents.”

 

“Am I in trouble? Am I under arrest?” she asked with a terrified expression.

 

“No, I don’t think so. We work with the police and exchange information. I don’t think they will need to interview you if you give us your statement.” Julia squeezed her arm for reassurance and ran back to their car.

 

The address on the clipboard was a small factory unit in amongst a number of other units that would have been straight on at the junction. The pick-up sheet said the hire car had been on the forecourt.

 

“Okay, spread out and scan the area,” John said. He’d got Donna under control now. He noticed a sign at the entrance to the industrial estate which said, ‘Unit 9, 1,306 SQ. FT. TO LET’; it would be empty and a handy place to swap vehicles.

 

His thermal imager on the scanner showed warm tyre tracks heading under the roller shutter door. He tried the small door to the side which was locked.

 

“Over here guys, I think I’ve found it.” He put his scanner in his large breast pocket and reached into a small arm pocket to produce a set of lock picks.

 

It didn’t take long for his superior Gallifreyan abilities to unlock the door and for him to be able to push the door open. Everyone had their stun guns at the ready.

 

There, in the gloom, was the black Range Rover with all doors open. They fanned out and approached from different directions.

 

“De Graff to Despatch, over,” Julia spoke into her headset quietly.

 

“Go ahead, over,” Chrissie said back into her earpiece. John had a super bright torch and was looking at the interior from a distance.

 

“We have found the target vehicle. Request Scene Of Crime unit and recovery, over.”

 

“And see if there are any CCTV cameras on these units,” John called out into his headset. “They might show us what vehicle they switched to.”

 

“Roger that. Dispatch out.”

 

Without entering the vehicle and disturbing any evidence, John crouched down and shone the torch under the seats. There was something shiny and metallic, a tranquiliser dart.

 

“They were definitely here then,” he said to himself.

 

“Same number plate as the hire car,” Jake called from the back of the car. “That would confused any sightings on the traffic cameras and make sure that we went after the decoy.”

 

“John! Come and look at this,” Gwen called from the other side of the car. They all walked around and saw her lying on her front looking under the back wheel.

 

“What have you found?” he asked her.

 

“Don’t know, I’ll take a photo.” She held her scanner behind the wheel and there was a bright flash. She sat up and looked at the display; the rest of the team looked over her shoulder.

 

The screen showed a round medallion with some apparent religious iconography engraved into it.

 

“It must have come loose during the effort to transfer an unconscious hostage,” Gwen said, and then realised who the hostage was. “Sorry John, that sounded a bit callous.”

 

He put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay Gwen, we’re all in the same boat here, and this might be the lead we need. Feed that back to Torchwood and see what they can find.”

 

He helped Gwen to her feet and took a last look around the small unit.

  
“We need to get back to Torchwood so that I can talk to Jack and make a special call.” He didn’t elaborate; he just walked out, leaving the others to follow.

 


	4. Hostage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being all 'kick ass', Rose ends up in trouble as usual but is still a Torchwood agent. John makes an unusual call.

 

** Chapter 4 **

 

 

 

Rose could hear a voice, echoing and distant in the darkness, cooing and encouraging someone.

 

There was a wave of panic as she realised that she was paralysed, totally and completely, she couldn’t even open her eyes. ‘Oh God, that bullet hit my spine!’ she thought. The implications of that started to overwhelm her. She would never be able to hold EJ again, never be able to be intimate with John.

 

She tried to calm down and take stock of her situation. She could hear, she could see the red hue of light through her eyelids and she could feel. ‘Wait a minute. If I can feel, the nerves in my spine must be okay’, she reasoned.

 

She could feel air currents on her skin, that meant she was naked, and she could feel EJ suckling on her breast! How was that possible? She then realised that the voice she could hear was a woman who must be holding her son on her breast.

 

There was a regular ‘hiss’ and ‘puff’ sound that seemed to be in rhythm with her breathing and she became aware of a tube in her throat. That was strange, because she wasn’t gagging on it, her throat just accepted it.

 

Her panic turned to fear, she was utterly helpless and at the mercy of anyone who wanted to take advantage of her. She felt EJ being taken off her nipple. Where was he? She wanted him back; he was her only point of reference in this void.

 

“There’s a good boy,” a woman cooed. Rose could hear his back being gently patted and rubbed until he let out a burp. She heard him being placed in a cot or some other receptacle by the side of her, and then the woman covered her with a soft, silky fabric which she assumed was a sheet.

 

There was a gentle knocking sound and the woman’s footsteps moving away from her. A door opening and the voice of an elderly male enquiring if it was alright to enter.

 

“Yes your eminence, the Holy Mother has finished feeding His Holiness and is awake,” the woman said.

 

‘Holy Mother? His Holiness? What the hell is going on?’ Rose thought to herself. ‘Who do they think I am?’ She assumed it was a case of mistaken identity, but being paralysed, she couldn’t tell anyone that they’d got the wrong person.

 

She heard footsteps and the ‘clack’ of a stick move towards her, and a creaking ‘oof’ as someone elderly sat in a chair nearby, followed by a whispered, muttered incantation or prayer in a foreign tongue.

 

“Holy Mother, your physician tells me that you are able to hear me. I beg your forgiveness for incapacitating you in such a manner. However, we greatly underestimated your abilities and ferocity when it came to protecting the Kaliq-Farrash from a perceived threat.”

 

The voice was elderly with a slight lisp and an accent that Rose couldn’t place.

 

“It was felt prudent that to prevent you from accidentally injuring your staff in your transition period, we would immobilise you until you were safely on your ship and on your way home. Again I ask your forgiveness,” the elderly voice said.

 

She heard the man rise from the chair. “Your handmaiden will tend to your needs and those of your son. I look forward to speaking to you very soon.” His footsteps and the ‘clack’ of his stick moved away and she heard the opening and closing of a door.

 

‘Okay agent Smith, let’s take stock of the situation’, she thought. Some of her fear had abated since she had been covered with a sheet and told that there was no threat to her.

 

There was still anxiety about being paralysed and being taken away from her family, but freaking out wasn’t going to help. She needed to keep a clear head and consider her options when she was given back control of her body.

 

She focussed on her hearing, in between the ‘hiss’ and ‘puff’ of the ventilator that was keeping her alive (which gave her another rush of panic), she could hear the sound of engines running through the room. She was on an airship, which was confirmed by the occasional slight movements caused by air turbulence.

 

‘So, I’m being taken to another ship to be taken ‘home’. Okay, 1. Why not do the whole journey in this ship? And 2. Where do they consider ‘home’ to be?’ She mulled over these questions and considered the answers.

 

The answers she came up with were not good. They obviously needed a ship that could go somewhere an airship couldn’t, which meant home was probably somewhere off world. With them not waking her up until they were safely on their way, she could be light-years away before she could even consider taking action.

 

Rose recalled her hostage negotiation training at Torchwood; she had been particularly good at it after all her travelling with the Doctor where she needed to assess situations quickly.

 

‘1. Attempt to thwart the abduction’, she’d tried to but got shot. She thought about being shot!

 

She couldn’t feel any pain in her shoulder. She had never been shot before, but she imagined it would hurt like hell. Maybe they had pumped her full of painkillers, but wouldn’t the old man have apologised for shooting her?

 

And the gun she had taken off her attacker, it didn’t have the ‘kick’ of a normal handgun. She hadn’t had time to think about it when she was using it, but now.... what if it was a tranq gun, firing drugged darts?

 

‘Jack’s alive!’ she thought with a wave of relief. Okay, back to the hostage training. ‘Focus Smith’, she admonished herself.

 

‘2. Regain your composure’. Under the current circumstances, she reckoned she wasn’t doing too bad.

 

‘3. Be observant.’ If she could have laughed, she would have. ‘Give me a break’, she thought, although she knew there was a woman looking after her, there was an old man in charge and they were on an airship. ‘Not bad for a start’, she thought.

 

‘4. Try to ascertain why you have been abducted’. That was a tricky one; they seemed to think she was the holy mother of a religious leader. She would need to talk to them about their mistake.

 

‘5. Keep a survival attitude’. Well that was easy, you didn’t travel with the Doctor without developing a survival attitude. You would soon be dropped off home if you couldn’t hack it with him.

 

The rest of the training involved interacting with the abductors, and she couldn’t do that while she was paralysed, so she needed to keep her mind active and alert.

 

Then she felt it! That warm, toe curling, smile inducing feeling she got when she made love to her husband. The red hue from light passing through her eyelids turned a golden white colour.

 

The golden light dimmed and she was standing on an all too familiar beach, Dålig Ulv Stranden. There in front of her, in his old brown pinstriped suit, was the Doctor.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

John stood on one side of Jack’s bed in the High Dependency Unit of the hospital floor in Torchwood Tower, Pete stood on the other. The attending doctor had just introduced a stimulant into a drip line that would counteract the powerful sedative from the tranquiliser dart.

 

The forensic lab had quickly analysed the remnants of the tranquiliser left in the dart and synthesised the antidote. Jack’s eyelids fluttered and he started to stir as his body fought the sedative.

 

“ROSE!” He sat bolt upright, panic and fear on his face. Strong arms pushed him back down on the bed. He turned to look at the face, his eyes struggling to focus.

 

“Doc?” he asked weakly.

 

“Hi Jack. How’ya doing?” John smiled back.

 

“Fine. How’s Rose, is she alright?” He saw the look in John’s eyes. “Oh Doc, I’m so sorry. They jumped us as we came out the shop, I didn’t....”

 

“Hey, Jack, it’s okay. There was nothing you could do. The shop owner picked up your phone when I rang it and told me what happened,” John told him, trying to comfort him.

 

“Right now I need information. What can you remember about the kidnapper?”

 

Jack rested his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. He replayed the events like a video, taking in the whole scene.

 

“Black hair. Prominent eyebrow ridges. Deep set steel blue eyes. Wide nose. Thin lips. Round chin with a cleft.” He was in ‘agent’ mode now; ignoring his feelings for Rose he reported as much detail as he could.

 

“He spoke only once, ‘Mrs Smith, you will come with me’. Eastern European accent. They knew their target. He wore an ‘off the peg’ black suit, white shirt and black tie and....” Jack screwed his eyes shut in concentration. “Over the tie he wore some kind of medallion.”

 

Pete’s eyes were wide in admiration, they had told him he was good, but that was brilliant. John lifted the tablet and showed him the image Gwen had taken earlier. Jack looked at it for a long while, taking in all the details.

 

“Yeah, that looks like it. Where did you get that photo?”

 

“Gwen took it at the factory unit; it was behind the back wheel of the getaway car. It’s the symbol of an underground extremist religious sect in the Balkan States,” John told him.

 

“What the hell do they want with Rose and EJ?” Jack asked.

 

“I’m just on my way down to the lab to make a call and find out.”

 

Pete looked a bit puzzled. “What’s wrong with the phone here, or your mobile?”

 

John gave them his enigmatic smile. “Who said anything about a phone?”

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

Jackie put the phone down and sat heavily on the sofa. She felt like she was going to throw up. Tears were stinging her eyes and her hands were trembling.

 

“Why does this always happen to them?” she cried. “I thought they’d left all that behind them in the other world. WHY CAN’T TROUBLE JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE!” she shouted at the ceiling. “THEY’VE GOT A LITTLE BABY TO LOOK AFTER NOW!” She started to sob, her breath coming in gasps.

 

There was a knock at the door and Alistair put his head around to look towards the sofa.

 

“Mrs Tyler, whatever’s the matter.” He moved quickly to the sofa and sat next to Jackie looking into her eyes. He instinctively reached for her hand and she squeezed it in return.

 

“It’s Rose and young EJ.... They’ve been kidnapped.”

 

A look of surprise and then anger flashed across his face. “Oh dear God no. What kind of low life would want to do that?”

 

Jackie started to wail. “Please forgive the impropriety Ma’am, but I think someone needs a hug.” He pulled her into a fierce hug as he rocked with her and patted her back.

 

“Oh Alistair, what am I going to do?”

 

Alistair abandoned his employer / employee formality and spoke to his friend. “Well, the first thing you are going to do Jackie, is give me the rest of the day off. There are some old acquaintances I need to see and old favours I need to call in.”

 

“Wha?” Jackie said as she wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

 

“Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies,” he said as he stood and headed for the door.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

“Commander, the third planet has a large moon. We could use that to mask our approach. It would allow us to observe without being detected,” the science officer said.

 

“Very well, plot an approach vector that keeps the moon between us and the planet.”

 

The helmsman responded. “I will obey.”

 

“Investigate the inhabitants and try to determine who speaks for the planet. Look for the most advanced technology.”

 

“I will obey,” the science officer said.

 

The saucer shaped craft moved behind the asteroid belt until it was in a position to approach without being detected. Within a certain distance, they started to pick up a global computer network and began downloading terabytes of information about the societies and civilisations on the planet.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

John and Pete left Jack to fully recover, while they made their way up to John’s lab in Forensics. John hadn’t said a word since he left the Hospital floor, telling Pete that he needed to focus.

 

When they got to the lab, John lit some incense and sat cross legged on the floor. Pete watched as his breathing started deep and slow, and then became shallow and slow.

 

Pete almost fell over as John’s eyes snapped open, it felt like he had been pushed backwards by his gaze. There was no warm brown in his eyes, just black. But not the black fury of the oncoming storm, it was tranquil, ancient and deep.

 

John stood and moved his head as a blind person sometimes does, hearing the position of someone rather than seeing them. Pete gave an involuntary shiver when he looked at him, well, it was more of a look through him.

 

“I can see your fear Pete,” his otherworldly voice said. “Do not be afraid, I am just preparing myself to contact Rose and EJ.”

 

He moved to the far side of the room and lay down on a futuristic looking couch. He reached up and lowered a transparent visor over his head that was covered with a variety of probes, sensors and wires.

 

“Have a seat,” John said. “This may take a while.”

 

“What is all this?” Pete asked, waving his hand at the couch and visor.

 

“I hope it’s a psychic amplifier and transmitter. This central probe by my forehead has a slither of a TARDIS incorporated into it. There should be enough Artron energy to forge a link with Rose.”

 

The visor was filled with a golden white light as John relaxed into the couch. When John had given Rose his Gallifreyan name on their wedding night, she had suddenly been given the ability to speak and understand Gallifreyan.

 

He was hoping that she had also been given other Gallifreyan abilities as well. He knew she was empathic, able to feel his emotions and those of EJ, and hopefully, with having looked into the heart of the TARDIS, she may be a latent telepath.

 

He knew she could hear him when he sent a telepathic message; she had made it to that beach all those years ago. If they spoke in Gallifreyan, he might just be able to hear her.

 

He first nudged himself into EJ’s mind and gave him thoughts and feelings of love and reassurance.

 

“It’s alright son, Dad’s here, everything is going to be okay,” he cooed to him. He got back a warm glow of love and contentment that almost made him cry.

 

John started to chuckle as he realised where EJ was and what he was doing. He liked doing that to his mummy as well, but he wasn’t interested in milk.

 

The golden light faded and he could see Rose’s head. He gasped when he realised she had an endotracheal tube in her mouth. He could hear the ‘hiss and puff’ of the ventilator, and a woman telling him he was a good boy as he was lifted off Rose.

 

In his present mental state, there was no anger or rage at what had been done to Rose, just the dispassionate knowledge recorded which would be acted on later.

 

‘Ooh, now there’s something you don’t see every day’, John thought to himself as EJ looked at the woman burping him. ‘A lizard nanny’. She was quite attractive, with pale green and yellow patterned scales, steel blue eyes with vertical slit pupils.

 

EJ was put on his side in a transparent cot where he could look at his mother, who was now covered with a silky sheet. His distance vision wasn’t that good at the moment as he still had to learn how to control the focussing of his eyes.

 

But he could hear. He had inherited his father’s hearing and it was exceptional. He heard the elderly green lizard man talking to Rose and his Dad now had an idea of what was going on.

 

It was time to try and contact Rose and he knew how to make the call. With a wicked grin, he remembered the first night they had spent together in this new world. Neither of them had slept much that night, and her empathic link would pick this up very quickly.

 

The golden light glowed bright again, and when it cleared he could see Rose standing before him on a familiar beach. She was dressed in the black leather jacket, lilac tee shirt and black trousers she had worn when he said goodbye through the breach.

 

He lifted his right hand and waggled his fingers. {“Hello.”}

 

Rose giggled and waved back. {“Hello.”} It worked! He could hear her.

 

John looked around the beach and raised an eyebrow. {“Interesting choice of venue.”}

 

{“Is this like last time, y’know, are you a hologram or somethin’?”} she asked him.

 

John acted as though he was suddenly startled. {“What? Oh no, no. We’re inside your head; you can do what you like.”}

 

No sooner had he finished speaking, when she grabbed his lapels and pulled him into a full on snog that she had wanted to do that first time on this beach.

 

They finished the kiss and rested their foreheads together; she was clinging to his lapels, never wanting to let him go.

 

{“They’ve got me paralysed John, it’s awful, I feel so vulnerable and helpless.”}

 

{“I know love, I was in EJ watching and listening,”} he told her.

 

{“Is he alright, the poor mite must be wonderin’ what’s goin’ on.”}

 

{“We’re all wondering that. No, he’s fine; I sent him feelings of reassurance. Oh, and Jack’s awake as well, he was able to give us a detailed description of your attacker.”}

 

John grinned and raised his eyebrows. {“Talking of your attacker, I understand you gave a good account of yourself.”}

 

She gave him a smile but looked disappointed. {“Not good enough though or I wouldn’t be lyin’ in that bed, breathin’ through a machine.”}

 

He pulled her into a hug before they started exchanging information.

 

{“Lizards!? You’re kiddin’. What the hell do lizards want with our son?”} she asked when he told her what EJ had seen.

 

{“They are slaves to their religion and their beliefs. EJ is their saviour and that’s that. End of! Is that bonkers or what?”} Whoops, a bit of Donna there.

 

{“Oh John, what are we going to do? How are we going to get out of this?”}

 

He hugged her again. {“Try not to worry love; you’ve got the best team in this world and any other working on this. And remember this, I will find you, and I will bring you home, I promise.”}

 

He took her face in his hands and gently kissed her on the lips as they were enveloped in the golden white light. When he opened his eyes, he was looking at the inside of the over couch visor.

  
Leaping off the couch, he looked at Pete with concern in his now normal eyes. “We’ve got a problem,” he told him. “They’re planning on taking them off world and we haven’t got much time.”

 


	5. Pursuit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John does some more 'CSI' stuff to find his family, while Torchwood lead an SAS badass style assault.  
> John descends further into despair.

 

** Chapter 5 **

 

 

 

 

On the way to Special Operations, John reassured Pete that Rose and EJ were fine. He didn’t tell him about the paralysis and the ventilator, he would have gone ‘ape-shit’. It was all John could do to contain his own outrage, focussing instead on finding the airship they were on and intercepting it.

 

In the Operations room, Pete went to Andy’s office and brought him up to speed with John’s information. John logged onto a computer and started hacking Heathrow airport flight schedules for private charter airships.

 

Andy and Pete came up behind him and looked over his shoulder.

 

“What’s occurring John?” Andy asked him. “Nice bit of intelligence gathering by the way. Could you teach my lot to do that?”

 

John looked up from the screen and saw Andy grinning at him.

 

“I’m trying to locate the private charter airship so that we can intercept it.”

 

“What makes you think it’s Heathrow? Just because they started off travelling west doesn’t mean they couldn’t double back after the switch,” Andy told him. “I know I would.”

 

“It’s all to do with time,” John told them. “I know Rose was hit with the tranquiliser at 12:17. Thanks to the mind meld, I know she woke up at 13:49. They had a 90 minute window to get her strapped down safe in the airship and get under way.”

 

He was in what Pete called his ‘Sherlock’ mode. “At 13:07, they discarded Rose’s phone rather than just switching it off, that delayed us for five minutes while they got to the factory unit. We then followed the decoy while they made their way to the airport. The only one available in the time frame is Heathrow.”

 

While he was talking, lists were scrolling down the screen faster than Pete or Andy could follow.

 

“Got ‘em!” he declared. “Private charter airship took off at 13:45 bound for Vidin airport in Bulgaria. That’s right in the middle of the Balkan mountains, a perfect place to hide a spaceship.” John tapped a few more keys.

 

“I’ve got their call sign and transponder frequency. They are over northern France, heading south east for the Alps.”

 

“Right then, I’m off to my office to call the President. We’ll need a bit of political muscle to intercept a foreign airship in flight,” Pete said.

 

“What?! Can’t we just go and get ‘em? My family have been kidnapped!” John stated, incredulous that anyone would try and stop him from rescuing them.

 

“You’re not in the TARDIS now John, we have to go through channels.”

 

“Thanks for reminding me. That makes me feel a whole lot better.”

 

“Don’t worry, I’m going to pull in some favours. Harriet has taken a shine to you and Rose since you saved the universe from the darkness.”

 

As Pete headed for the door John called over to him. “Could we at least let some of our staff take a little vacation to the eastern Mediterranean in your Vitex airship?”

 

Pete looked back and grinned. “Andy, call in White Watch and send them on a holiday, courtesy of Vitex.”

 

Andy laughed and nodded. “Chrissie, call ‘em in. Tell ‘em it’s a Code Red.”

 

Chrissie made the calls and mobilized the watch when she had a call from Reception.

 

“Captain McNab, Reception has just had a strange call from an anonymous source. Apparently, they asked for a message to be passed to you personally.”

 

“Really? Okay, what’s the message?”

 

“It’s a postcode and house number, with the words ‘The kidnappers are here. Don’t dally’.”

 

“What the crap?!” Andy was experienced enough to know when an informant was passing on information. “Okay people, full combat gear now! Chrissie, get some Mobile Investigation Vehicles over there and start surveillance with the ‘spy-flies’, I want to know numbers, locations within the property, defences and firepower before we get there.”

 

“I want a piece of that,” Jack said from the door.

 

“Harkness, are you fit for duty?” Andy asked him.

 

“You bet, and I can identify one of the kidnappers.”

 

“He’s got a point,” John said.

 

“And a good one at that,” McNab replied. “Okay, get suited up with the others. John, if you standby here, we’ll feed any intel direct to you.”

 

John was eager to get out there and do something, but he also wanted to contact Rose again and let her know what was happening.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

The Torchwood assault team were in a 10 seater vehicle parked around the corner from the target house. Captain McNab was giving the final briefing before the raid.

 

“The first room on the left contains three targets, Jake, Julia, Stuart and Pete, they’re yours. The room at the rear contains two targets, one of which is the assailant that attacked agent Smith. Jack, Gwen and Myself will take them. Upstairs in three separate rooms are three more targets. Clive, Danny, Andre and Craig, they’re yours.”

 

They all put on their respirators with gold reflective visors, and helmets with high tech sensors and cameras. They looked like inhuman fighting robots, which would scare even the most hardened soldier.

 

“Position the door nettings and call in when you are ready. I’ll activate them all from my wrist computer.”

 

They all exited the vehicle and crept silently down the street to the target house. All except for Andy, Jack and Gwen, who made their way to the back of the house to affect an entry through the back door.

 

They placed a flexible wire netting over the front and back doors, fixed in position with ‘suckers’. This was another of John’s inventions for gaining covert entry into dangerous situations.

 

“Alpha Team in position,” Andy announced.

 

“Beta Team in position,” Jake replied. Andy pressed a button on his computer and the doors silently turned to sawdust. They picked up the netting and silently made their way into the house.

 

Jack placed the netting over the rear room door and crouched to the side, with Gwen crouching on the other side. Andy was watching his wrist computer as each team indicated that they were in position and ready to go.

 

He had four green lights, they were ready to go. He whispered into his head set. “All units, we are go in three, two, one, GO, GO, GO!” He pressed the button again and all the doors turned to dust.

 

ZZAPP-APP-APP-APP-APP. There was an almost simultaneous discharge of stun guns.

 

“Beta 1, three targets down,” Jake announced.

 

“Beta 3, target down.”

 

“Beta 2, target down.”

 

“Beta 4, target down.”

 

“Alpha 1, one down, one to go,” Andy said. “All units, secure targets and start extraction.”

 

Jack, Andy and Gwen walked into the room at the rear of the house. One of the kidnappers was unconscious with his head on the table, a deck of cards scattered in front of him. The other man had his right arm in a sling, bloodshot eyes and a bruise across his neck.

 

He had jumped up from his seat when the other man was ‘zapped’.

 

“FREEZE!” Gwen shouted as she aimed her stunner at him, standing combat ready and looking for the slightest hostile movement.

 

He actually ‘gulped’ as he looked at the three commandos with wide, terrified, red eyes. Jack took off his helmet and pulled off his respirator mask.

 

“Hi there handsome, fancy meeting you here.” Jack recognised him as the assailant that had shot him earlier.

 

Andy took off his helmet and mask and grinned. “God that felt good! I’ve missed that since I left my old unit.” He walked over to the kidnapper and pushed him down into the chair.

 

“And what poor excuse for a human being have we got here then,” he said, his grin never faltering. “Kidnapping. Conspiracy to kidnap. Aggravated assault, you boys are looking at some serious time inside for all that. If you want the courts to look favourably on you, you had better start talking.” He grinned at Jack. “Otherwise, I’ll have to let handsome here show you a good time.”

 

The kidnapper saw the look in Jack’s eyes and the colour drained from his face.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

Pete first phoned Jackie to tell her that John had managed to contact Rose and EJ, and although they were still held captive, they were unharmed.

 

He next phoned Harriet Jones and explained the situation and the need for urgency. The President was appalled, but informed Pete that they didn’t have any special political relations with Bulgaria. The government would require evidence and proof before they could intercept the airship in flight.

 

The wheels of government turned slowly, and when it was two governments that didn’t know or trust each other, they almost turned backwards. The best course of action would be for Interpol to meet the kidnappers at the airport and prevent them from getting to their spaceship.

 

Harriet Jones would move heaven and earth for her favourite celebrity couple, and that son of theirs was so adorable that she wouldn’t let anything happen to him either. She had said this to Pete when he said he was formulating a contingency plan. It was her way of saying ‘do what you have to and we’ll sort out the politics later’.

 

In the Operations room, John was looking at the live feed from a surveillance satellite over Europe. He could see the airship approaching the Austrian Alps, and the sleek, eight seater Vitex airship over France that was slowly closing the distance.

 

He hacked into the feed from a Pentagon spy satellite and started scanning the Balkan mountains around Vidin, looking for an alien spaceship.

 

John’s phone started to play Jack’s ring tone, ‘I feel like a woman’ by Shania Twain. Jack had asked him to use that one because he felt it summed him up. John had told him ‘The oldest swinger in town’ might be more appropriate in that case.

 

“Doc. My trigger happy friend was only too happy to talk to me,” Jack’s cheerful voice said.

 

“Don’t tell me you’ve got a date with him?” John joked, trying to keep his flagging spirits up.

 

“Hah! Didn’t think of that. Their client first contacted them back home in Bulgaria on social networking, then email and then by radio. They’ve never met him but I’ve got the radio frequency, I’m uploading it now. I thought you might like to have a little chat with him.”

 

“Jack you old rogue, did I ever tell you that you’re brilliant?” John said, his mood starting to lift.

 

“On more than one occasion if I recall. See you soon.”

 

John moved over to the communications console where Chrissie Anderson was sitting at Despatch. He fed the frequency into the transceiver and sent a carrier wave.

 

He waited a few minutes and the equipment indicated that the carrier had been received. The face of a wizened old reptile appeared on the screen. John recognised him from when he’d seen him through EJ’s eyes.

 

“Your eminence! Finally we get to meet. My name’s John Smith and you have my wife and son,” he said, getting straight to the point.

 

“You know me? How is that possible?”

 

“I’m the Doctor, and with me, anything’s possible.” He could see he’d rattled the old lizard. “And I’m giving you the opportunity to turn that ship around, take my wife off the ventilator and bring them back.”

 

From the look on the lizard’s face he’d hit another bulls eye with the ventilator statement. He was on a roll and wasn’t about to stop, he had wanted to unnerve him, and he was succeeding.

 

“And, if she’s the Holy Mother, does that make me the Holy Father?”

 

“Wh.... How do you know all this?” the lizard stuttered.

 

“I told you, I’m the Doctor. NOW BRING THEM BACK, or else....” His voice suddenly had an air of menace.

 

“Or else what?” the lizard asked hesitantly.

 

“Or else I will come and get them! And trust me; you really don’t want me to do that. I’m saying this one time only, one offer, one chance.”

 

The old lizard actually looked full of trepidation, but he was committed to a course of action and he couldn’t turn back now.

 

“I am sorry Doctor, but the Kaliq-Farrash is essential to the future of our collective worlds and our survival. I really am sorry that it had to be like this, but without his presence to unify the worlds, we are doomed. I truly am sorry.” The screen went dead.

 

He looked across and saw Chrissie looking at him, tears welling in her eyes. He then noticed that Pete had come into the room and was standing behind him, he’d heard the whole conversation. John silently went back to the satellite surveillance and continued to watch the progress of the Vitex airship.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

The large, private charter airship had climbed to 6,000 metres to safely clear the eastern Alps which had slowed it down slightly as it climbed.

 

The Vitex airship however, was piloted by a Torchwood agent who had learned to fly in combat. The ship flew down narrow valleys, skimming treetops as it went. The co-pilot was using his Torchwood tablet PC to link to the satellite systems to plot the fastest, low level course.

 

White Watch had arrived at London City airport in their ordinary clothes so as not to arouse any suspicion as they went through the departure lounge. All their special gear had been fast tracked through cargo by the airport security staff.

 

They had received the ‘go’ signal from Captain McNab after it was found that negotiations with Bulgarian authorities would take too long and the target airship was veering off course and heading directly into the Balkans.

 

They were now kitted out in their black Special Operations uniforms, with white Parkas and over trousers for the snow capped peaks. They were going through weapons and equipment checks. McNab was briefing them on the mission and the circumstances of the hostages.

 

The ventilator presented an extra hazard due to the fact that if it became damaged or disconnected, agent Smith could die. Duncan Prescott, one of the most experienced field agents in Torchwood, second only to Andy McNab, designated one of the medic trained agents to be Rose’s ‘guardian angel’ and keep her healthy.

 

The airship was being buffeted about by turbulence from bad weather over the Alps. One advantage though was that they had a tail wind which was carrying them along at speed.

 

The pilot had put on his combat helmet so that he could use the satellite linked head up display to fly through the low storm clouds without being blind. A wire frame, virtual mountain range appeared in front of his eyes, along with cockpit flight instrument data.

 

In the Operations room back at Canary Wharf, John was tracking both airships and trying to find the alien spaceship. He had come to the conclusion that it was probably cloaked. The new direction of the target airship now indicated they were heading in the direction of Midžor peak.

 

Pete had contacted the President again and informed her about the deviation from a logged flight plan, and agreed that this would help to indicate the guilt of the airship occupants. She would be on the phone to the Bulgarian authorities immediately.

 

On the high resolution satellite feed to the HD screen, the progress of the Vitex airship could be seen, watched with a great deal of pride by McNab. He turned to Pete and smiled.

 

“We’ve got one hell of a team here Pete.”

 

Pete nodded. “Just as well really. Let’s hope they’re up to the challenge ahead.”

 

John programmed a predictive algorithm into his computer, taking into account relative air speeds, wind speeds and terrain. He ran it forward, and if all the factors remained relatively stable the Torchwood team should get to Midžor peak 5 to 10 minutes before the lizard.

 

His automated pattern recognition software came up trumps as well. It was looking for geometric depressions in the snow on Midžor peak. If a ship was cloaked, its landing struts would still have to make contact with the ground, and that would leave depressions.

 

On the Vitex ship, the co-pilot was checking his tablet and realised they should be able to see the target any time soon. He was looking out of the windows when he caught sight of a black dot through a break in the clouds.

 

“Bogey 11 o’clock, we’ve made good time,” he told the pilot. “Heads up Duncan! Target acquired.”

 

“Okay people, final prep. Let’s make sure this goes right and by the numbers. That’s one of our own out there, let’s bring them home,” Duncan said, holding his hand out. The team all put their hands in and shouted a ‘HUH’.

 

Chrissie’s voice came over their headsets. “Torchwood Despatch to White Watch, landing site located. Transmitting coordinates now. Be advised that Bulgarian commandos are on their way to assist, over.

 

“Roger that Dispatch. It looks like the President did it. Perfect timing. Making our final approach now, over,” the pilot said in the normal, unflappable voice of a professional pilot.

 

“50 feet, wind sheer 20 knots from the northeast. 40 feet. 30 feet, drifting to the right, 20, 10, contact. You are good to go.”

 

Duncan flipped the door down. “GO! GO! GO!”

 

Four pairs of agents leapt into the snow and spread out left and right, stun rifles poised and ready to fire. The rifles fired a bolt of energy four times further than the pistols and were ideal for this kind of mission. They hunkered down in the snow and waited for the airship to arrive.

 

They didn’t have to wait long. Six minutes, right in the middle of John’s prediction. The large airship lowered itself to the snow and the side door hinged down to form a ramp.

 

Someone in snow clothing walked down the ramp and stood in the snow at the bottom. Another person followed carrying a carrycot and was helped off the ramp into the snow.

 

White Watch were startled, when a metal ramp appeared out of thin air a few feet above the ground.

 

“First hostage out. Acquire your targets,” Duncan said into his headset. “No one gets on that ship, understood?”

 

“Understood,” the responses came back in his earpiece.

 

Next to come down the ramp was a floating metallic casket with a person at each end.

 

“Second hostage out. Take ‘em down!”

 

ZZAPP! ZZAPP-APP-APP. Bolts of blue-white electricity zipped across the snow field towards the people on the ground.

 

The Operations room was silent as they watched the unfolding mission on the plasma screen from the helmet cameras. It was like a scene from Star Wars as the energy bolts shot out.

 

“Yesss!” someone said as they punched the air, but John could see something was wrong.

 

“No, no, no, no, no! This is bad! This is very bad,” he called out.

 

The energy bolts were flashing in mid air in front of the two ramps. It was so bright that they could only just see the people from the airship walking up the metal ramp and disappearing into thin air.

  
“An energy field! They’re using an energy field. That’s cheating! It’s not fair.” John banged his fist on the desk. “It’s just not fair.” He had tears in his eyes as Chrissie squeezed his hand and Pete put a hand on his shoulder.

 


	6. Making plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is finally back in the land of the living and worried that John is on a downward spiral. But then he has a radical idea.

 

** Chapter 6 **

 

 

The saucer shaped craft had approached the planet by hiding behind the single large moon and manoeuvred carefully up to the pole where it landed in a crater.

 

It had a clear view of the planet below, but was well hidden from prying eyes (and sensors). You would have to know where to look to be able to see it.

 

“Commander, a craft has left the surface and is moving away at speed,” the science officer announced.

 

“Does the planet have interstellar capabilities?”

 

“Negative.”

 

“It may be a visitor to this world. Track its course; we will investigate at a later time.”

 

“I obey.”

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

Rose was in a comfortable room with a sofa, bed, and en-suite bathroom that wouldn’t be out of place in any hotel back on Earth. EJ was asleep in a crib at the foot of the bed.

 

There was a decent sized window, through which she could see the star field beyond. She took another swig of water from the small bottle to wet her dry throat. Four hours with an endotracheal tube down your throat gave you a raging thirst.

 

She felt the warm glow of John’s calling card and sat down on the sofa. The golden glow came and went and she was sat in their living room back home with John by the side of her.

 

She grabbed his face and kissed him without speaking, as he returned it with passion. When they broke from the kiss she could see tears in his eyes and the look of self loathing.

 

{“I’m sorry Rose. I’ve let you and EJ down.”}

 

{“No, shush. Don’t, it’s not your fault.”} She kissed him again.

 

{“I should have seen that coming. Ships like this use force fields as a heat shield during re-entry and to protect against micrometeorites during flight.”}

 

{“What’s done is done. Let’s take stock of our assets and formulate some plans.”} She was a Torchwood agent and was trying to stay positive for him so that he didn’t start descending into despair.

 

She needed him to be his manic, running around, ten to the dozen motor mouthed self. When he was like that, ideas poured out of him like water out a fountain.

 

{“Telepathy!”} she said. {“They don’t know we can do this, is there anyway we can use that to our advantage.”}

 

{“Well, you can talk to them and then you can tell me what they said. But they’re not going to tell you anything important or crucial, are they.”}

 

{“Oh come on John, please. This isn’t like you. Think, think. What about EJ, you told me you could see through his eyes and hear through his ears.”}

 

He suddenly went quiet as he was deep in thought. She’d done it, she could tell. She could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

 

{“If you could sweet talk your way on to the bridge carrying EJ, I could look at the systems configuration and work out how to fly the ship.”}

 

{“Part of hostage negotiation training teaches you to befriend your captors and gain their trust, I can do that.”}

 

{“Okay then, later we would have to come up with a plan to clear the bridge and lock it off. This is going to take time love. EJ will miss his first Christmas; you might miss your birthday. It’s going to be awful without you.”}

 

Rose squeezed his hand. {“Well we haven’t got a TARDIS anymore; we’ll just have to take the slow road. But, however long it takes, we will get home.”}

 

John had gone quiet and he had the Time Lord look in his eyes that she hadn’t seen since he’d split into two Doctors. Rose reached up and stroked his face.

 

{“John, are you alright?”} He suddenly came out of his reverie.

 

{“What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine, fine.... In fact I might be better than fine,”} he said mysteriously. {“I’ve got to go and check on something, I’ll see you later. I love you so much. Give EJ a kiss for me.”}

 

He pulled her into a passionate kiss as they were surrounded by golden light.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

John lifted the visor on the couch and sat up. ‘You’re not in the TARDIS now John, we have to go through channels’, Pete had said. Talk about rubbing it in, and then Rose had said ‘Well we haven’t got a TARDIS anymore, we’ll just have to take the slow road.’

 

“We haven’t got a TARDIS.... yet,” he said to himself. Yet being the operative word. “You might have to take the slow road Rose, but a TARDIS is a time machine.”

 

A plan was starting to form in his mind. It was all wibbly-wobbly and oh so timey-wimey and very him. He leapt off the couch and ran out of the lab to find Jack.

 

He found Jack in the standby room, chatting to Jake and watching the TV. He bounced into Andy’s office and asked if he could borrow Jack for a couple of hours for an important project.

 

Andy could see that it was important the way he’d got enthusiasm back. To put a smile like that on his face lately, it must have something to do rescuing Rose and EJ.

 

“Sure, just bring ‘em back safe and in one piece,” he said with a grin.

 

John raised an eyebrow in surprise; he was good, damn good.

 

“Yeah, thanks Andy.” He ran out of the office.

 

“Jack, I need your help.”

 

Jack looked over and saw the look on his face. He sprang out of the chair and walked over. “What’s up?”

 

“I need to get some stuff from my house and I need to make some long term plans. I’ll explain on the way.”

 

In his home laboratory, there was a pressure vessel about two feet long and a foot in diameter, rounded at both ends. It had all sorts of coils, wires, pipes, tubes and dials on it.

 

“What the hell is this thing?” Jack asked as they struggled up the stairs with it.

 

“Oof. It’s a plasmic shell shattifier,” he told him and saw the look on his face which said ‘you’re going to have to give me more than that’.

 

“It’s modifying the dimensional stabilization of a chunk of TARDIS. At the right temperature and pressure, it produces a foldback harmonic of 96.6. The growth rate is accelerating exponentially.”

 

“What? You’re growing a TARDIS?” Jack asked in amazement.

 

“Yeah, for just over a year now. It should be ready for transdimentional implantation in about three months.”

 

“Where the hell did you get a chunk of TARDIS in this universe?”

 

“I didn’t, it came from the other universe. I gave it to me after I’d split in two.”

 

“It’s never dull around you, is it?” Jack gave him his white toothed smile.

 

They got the vessel stowed in the DeLorian and then went back to clear a two metre square corner of the lab. John went up to the bedroom to put some clothes in a suitcase. He was going to be away for a few months.

 

Finally ready, they went down the steps to the DeLorian and headed back to Torchwood.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

Rose was a bit giddy and light headed after her telepathic kiss, it always did that to her.

 

That look in his eyes, he was up to something, she was sure of it. Could it be possible that he had a plan to get them out of here? She didn’t want to get her hopes up too much, only to have them dashed.

 

She was distracted from her thoughts by a chiming sound coming from the door.

 

“Hello?” she called out.

 

The door swished open and her yellow/green handmaiden lizard entered the room and bowed to her.

 

“Good day Holy Mother, I hope that you are well and recovered from your ordeal,” she said with reverence.

 

“If by ordeal you mean being shot, kidnapped and paralysed, I’ve had better days. And stop calling me Holy Mother! My name’s Rose but you can call me Mrs Smith,” Rose told her.

 

She mentally kicked herself. She was supposed to try and befriend these people, although she could probably get away with it when talking to a servant.

 

“As you wish Mrs. Smith, is there anything that I can get for you?”

 

‘A ride home’, Rose thought. Instead she went for conciliation. “I’m sorry for snapping at you, I don’t suppose you had any say in what they did to me.” She looked down at the unflattering robe that she had been dressed in after being taken off the ventilator.

 

“Do you still have my old clothes? They were comfortable, and the blouse made it easier for me to feed my son.”

 

“Of course Mrs. Smith. I will go and fetch them now.” She was about to leave when Rose called to her.

 

“Another thing, am I permitted to leave this room, or is it my prison cell?”

 

“You are not a prisoner Mrs. Smith. I will ask his eminence to come and speak with you.” With that she turned and left the room.

 

A while later, Rose didn’t know how long because there were no clocks, the handmaiden returned with Rose’s clothes.

 

“His eminence will be along in a while to explain which areas of the ship are available to you Mrs. Smith.”

 

“Thank you.... Er, what is your name? I am terribly sorry; I forgot to ask when you were here before.”

 

“No need for apologies from the Ho.... from you Mrs. Smith. It is I who should be apologising for not introducing myself to my mistress. My name is Elishka.”

 

“Well Elishka, I’m sure under different circumstances it would be very nice to meet you. I’m just going through to the bathroom to get dressed.”

 

“Of course. If there is nothing else I can do for you, I shall leave.” She bowed and left.

 

In the bathroom, Rose stripped off the baggy gown and looked at herself in the mirror. She had a bruise under her left clavicle where the dart had hit her, but apart from that she didn’t look too bad considering.

 

She pulled on her panties and then her black, Alexander McQueen leather skirt. Next, she put on her bra and buttoned up her cream Jaeger blouse. That felt better, a bit more normal in a completely abnormal situation.

 

She went through to the main room and sat on the bed to put her Giuseppe Zanotti boots. She loved these boots with the heels, and now she felt ready for anything.

 

The door chimed again.

 

“Hello.”

 

It swished open, and an elderly stooped lizard walked in supported by an ornately carved staff.

 

“You must be ‘his Eminence’ the gaoler,” she said with a smile.

 

He stopped and looked at her, trying to decide if it was anger, humour or sarcasm. He hadn’t got the hang of these human traits yet, so he decided to ignore it.

 

“Holy Mother, it is good to see you up and about. I hope there are no ill effects from your.... transportation.”

 

‘Remember agent Smith, be nice’, she thought to herself. “A bit of a sore throat, but it’s nothing serious. Would you mind calling me Mrs. Smith rather that Holy Mother? On my planet it sounds like an exclamation of surprise.”

 

The old lizard seemed pleased that she hadn’t let loose with the tirade of anger and abuse he was expecting.

 

“Of course Mrs. Smith, if it makes you more comfortable.” He said with a bow. “Your handmaiden told me that you were asking about allowed areas of the ship.” He took a card on a lanyard out of his pocket and handed it to her.

 

“This pass will allow you into common areas of the ship and exclude you from the dangerous and sensitive ones,” he said.

 

Rose took the offered pass, inspected it and looked at the lizard.

 

“Thank you your Eminence,” she said with as much sincerity as she could muster for her kidnapper. The old lizard smiled and nodded as he turned and headed for the door. It swished open and he turned to speak. “When you are more settled, we will talk about his Holiness, the Kaliq-Farrash and his future role.” He turned back and walked out.

 

When the door closed, Rose let out her anger and frustration on the sofa and punched one of the cushions.

 

“That’s what you think!”

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

“Okay Pete, I’ve got a plan to get Rose and EJ back in the next few days, but I’ll need some resources and cooperation.” He was in Pete’s office, bouncing on his toes, eager to get started.

 

“Hey, John, if it gets ‘em back safe and sound, whatever you need and whatever it takes, you’ve got it.”

 

“Great! Okay, I need the guys in the workshop to make me a capsule to these specifications.” He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it over. “Next, I need maintenance to put an interlocking serving hatch in my lab, y’know the sort where only one door can open at a time.”

 

Pete looked a bit puzzled and cautious. “Okayyy,” he said a bit non-committal.

 

“Right, I’m going down to the warehouse to rummage through the off-world tech to salvage some parts that I’ll need for later.”

 

At the door he turned and spoke. “I forgot to mention, the sooner they can get the cylinder done and the hatch installed, the sooner Rose and EJ will be back.”

 

“I’ll get right on it.”

 

Later in the day, John and Jack were pushing a large trolley piled high with all sorts of alien tech, past the workmen who were cutting a hole in the wall next to the door of his lab.

 

They started offloading the trolley onto the worktops and shelves around the walls.

 

“So, what’s all this in aid of then?” Jack asked as he looked at a black sphere with knobbly bits on it.

 

“When the TARDIS is ready, it will be able to cannibalize all of these bits and pieces for various systems. If it had to do it from scratch it would take years.”

 

“Hey Doc! Is this a warp star?” Jack asked in wide eyed wonder.

 

In the centre of an intricate wire polygon was a gemstone that shone with an intense white light.

 

“Yep, that’s going to be the power source for the heart of the TARDIS.”

 

They finished off loading the trolley to the sounds of whirring, buzzing and sawing noises, as the workmen installed a metal cube in the wall with a door on the inside and one on the outside.

 

“All done Dr. Smith. As you can see, if one door is open, the other one is locked.” The workman demonstrated the principal.

 

“Brilliant. Thanks a lot for doing it so quickly.”

 

As the workmen picked up their tools and left, Pete walked in and looked around the now cluttered lab.

 

“The fabricators in the workshop tell me your capsule will be ready by 16:00 hours,” he said, still looking around.

 

“Brilliant! Molto Bene! Not long now before you’ll be able to see Rose and EJ again.”

 

“John, do I want to know what’s going on?”

 

John stopped what he was doing and looked at Pete, his face serious and deep in thought.

 

"What I’m about to do is risky, it could easily cause a paradox and breakdown the walls of reality. That’s why I’ve got to take precautions. I’ve got to put myself into temporal quarantine.”

 

“Temporal quarantine, what the hell is that?” Pete asked him.

 

“It’s a bit complicated, but what it means is that this lab will be sealed for a few months. No one must enter until I unlock the door with the keypad. I’ll tell people that there’s a delicate experiment running that can’t be interrupted.”

 

“Well that’s answered my question anyway. I definitely don’t want to know!”

 

Jack snorted a laugh and John just grinned.

 

Even for a part Time Lord, the time dragged up to 16:00. John, Jack and Pete had visited the restaurant and had a meal and a drink together before heading back to the lab.

 

As they walked down the corridor, they followed two technicians wheeling a large metal cylinder towards the lab.

 

“Oh well done!” John said as they squeezed it through the door. “This is perfect. Okay, let’s start stacking the items inside.”

 

They emptied the worktops and shelves into the cylinder and closed the door. There was just enough room inside for one more item, when it was ready.

 

John turned and looked at Pete; he had a sort of melancholy look in his eyes. He held out his hand and Pete shook it as John pulled him into a hug, slapping his back.

 

“You’ll see me again in a few days,” he told him. “And I’ll see you in a few months.”

 

Pete was about to ask him what he meant, but John had grabbed Jack in a hug.

 

“Thanks for everything you’re about to do old friend. See you soon, eh?”

 

“You just hurry up and bring that gorgeous wife back so I can have a hug, and that adorable son back so I can have a cuddle.”

 

“Okay, time to go. The door will seal automatically when you close it. Bye.”

 

“Bye, and good luck.”

 

‘Click’, ‘hiss’, John was sealed inside his lab.

 


	7. The Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John to the rescue! But Rose plays her part as well.

 

** Chapter 7 **

 

 

 

Rose was sat on the sofa in her room on the spaceship, cooing at EJ as he fed. Earlier she had ventured out into the corridor and explored those areas that were open to her.

 

She found a restaurant, games room, gymnasium, pool and various other recreational areas. Doors to off limit areas just wouldn’t open; she wondered if John would have some clever technique that she could use to modify the badge to open all doors.

 

EJ was sucking away contentedly looking at his mothers face as he always did. Rose smiled at him, but thought their was something different about the way he was looking at her.

 

“John, is that you?” she asked EJ, wondering if there was some telepathy going on here.

 

She gasped and then laughed. EJ winked at her.

 

“You dirty old bugger!” she laughed. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself?”

 

She doubled up with laughter when EJ winked again. She finished nursing him and rubbed and patted his back until he burped. She was wondering if that was John or not when she got the warm, loving feeling of his calling card.

 

When the golden glow faded, she was standing in the old console room of the TARDIS with EJ cradled in her arms.

 

{“I love the locations you choose for our meetings,”} John said from behind her. She turned around and saw him standing there in the blue suit that he had worn when they first met on the Dalek crucible.

 

{“They seem to be places that have had a significant influence on my life,”} she told him.

 

He put a hand around her waist and kissed her lovingly on the lips and then kissed his son on the head. She could feel his energy, his excitement, his anticipation.

 

{“I get the feeling that something is afoot.”}

 

{“Hah! You know me too well. Yes, I have got a plan to get you both out, but I also want to sort out these lizards so that they’ll leave us alone and not come after us again.”}

 

{“And how are you going to do that?”} she asked with a raise eyebrow.

 

{“Ah well, I need you to get an invite on to the bridge with his Eminence so that I can speak to him and the bridge crew.}”

 

{“That’s a big ask John.”}

 

{“I know, but I believe in you Rose. If anyone can do it, you can. You need to have EJ with you, and I’ll be watching through his eyes to time my entrance.”}

 

{“Okay, I’ll ask Elishka to call him and see if I can arrange a visit to the bridge.”}

 

{“Good girl. Oh, and I’m sorry about your birthday surprise, you’ll have to have it for Christmas instead.”}

 

He waggled his eyebrows and kissed her before she could ask him what he was on about. The golden light grew and faded, and she was back on the spaceship.

 

She sighed and waited for the dizziness to pass, and then went over to the comms panel by the door. She had an idea; all she had to do was get it to work.

 

“Elishka, Would you inform his Eminence that I wish to speak with him.”

 

“Of course Mrs. Smith.”

 

A short while later the door chime sounded.

 

“Come in.” The door swished open and the old lizard entered with Elishka.

 

“Your handmaiden informs me that you wish to speak with me.”

 

“Yeah. I’ve been thinkin’ about your claim that my son is this Kaliq-Farrash, this Messiah. What proof is there? All I have is your say so,” she said, hoping he’d take the bait.

 

“It is not my claim or ‘say so’, it is foretold in the prophecy.”

 

“Which is?”

 

“The second coming of the Messiah will be the half breed son of half breed parents, a Human-She Wolf, sired by a Human-Gallifreyan born without parents. He will unite the seven worlds and warring factions in a golden age of peace.”

 

Rose raised her eyebrows and nodded. “I can see why you think it’s us.” There go the wolves again, influencing their lives. “And you think he will unite your colonies, stopping the squabbling and civil wars?”

 

“With all my heart,” he replied sincerely.

 

“Then prove it to me! I wish to see how intelligent, educated people react to being in the presence of my son, a supposed religious icon.”

 

“And if I do this for you?”

 

“Then I will cooperate,” she said quietly. “If my son can save millions of lives by preventin’ a war, then I will not prevent him from fulfillin’ this noble destiny.”

 

“Really?” The old wizard sounded doubtful, Rose hoped he believed her.

 

“It’s not that I do not respect or trust you Mrs. Smith, but I have seen what you are capable of. Letting you loose on the bridge of a star ship may be a bit foolhardy.”

 

“I was attacked without warnin’, my son was in danger. What was I supposed to do? And talkin’ of trust, I’m havin’ to trust a person who’s had me shot, stripped and paralysed,” she said with a hint of anger flaring in her eyes.

 

“A point well made I agree. However I still think having you unfettered on the bridge would be hazardous. However, we could wait until the senior staff were off duty and meet them in the recreation area.”

 

Damn! The crafty old lizard was on to her, she had to think quickly.

 

Think, think, think. Got it!

 

“What, and give you time to brief them and let them rehearse their reactions? It all comes down to trust again, doesn’t it? If we are to work together in the future, we need to trust one another. It’s a stalemate.”

 

The old lizard rubbed his chin while he thought. “Very well. I propose a compromise,” he said. “Elishka, tell Mrs. Smith of your oath of fealty.”

 

Elishka looked embarrassed and lowered her gaze. “I will protect his Holiness and the Holy mo.... and his mother with my life. I will serve them to the best of my abilities until the day I die,” she said quietly.

 

“This is my proposal, that we go to the bridge where you hand the Kaliq-Farresh to your handmaiden,” he started.

 

“Wha?” Rose started to ask.

 

He raised his hand to silence her as he continued. “You will then consent to have your wrists bound behind you and then we will enter the bridge together, unannounced.”

 

Oh shit! He’d called her bluff. If she didn’t accept his offer she would never get on the bridge where John could implement his rescue plan, whatever that was.

 

What should she do? If she was in handcuffs and not holding EJ, would that affect his plan as well? There were so many unknowns that she couldn’t make a decision.

 

She just stared silently at the old lizard, trying to think of away out of this corner that he’d backed her into.

 

She was about to say no, John had said he had a plan to get her and EJ out and the lizards seemed to be secondary to the rescue. Maybe if she stayed in her room, John could rescue them from there.

 

Before she could say anything, she momentarily had the warm feeling that she got from John when he was calling her. Was he trying to send her a message?

 

She looked down at EJ in her arms and saw that he was studying her face in the way that babies do. Only he then did something that other babies didn’t do. He winked at her again.

 

He’d been listening! He’d heard her get backed into a corner and he was telling her that it would be alright. She looked back at his Eminence, who had a smirk on his face, as he patiently waited for her reply.

 

“Very well, I agree to your terms.”

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

They walked down a corridor Rose hadn’t had access to before. At the end were a set of red doors with two officers either side standing at ease. When they reached the doors, Rose kissed EJ on his head and handed him to Elishka.

 

“Please turn around Mrs. Smith and put your hands behind you,” his Eminence commanded.

 

Rose did as she was asked and one of the officers placed a pair of handcuffs on her wrists.

 

“As if I would do anything to endanger my son,” she said as the cuffs firmly clicked shut.

 

His Eminence nodded at the officers and one of them operated the door panel and they swished open. Elishka entered first, followed by Rose and then the old lizard.

 

The Captain turned in his command chair to see who had entered the bridge.

 

“Your Eminence! We are honoured with your presence.”

 

“Thank you Captain, you are indeed honoured today as the Holy Mother, Mrs. Smith wishes you and your staff to meet his Holiness the Kaliq-Farrash,” he announced to the room.

 

The Captain gasped and the bridge crew all turned to look in awe at the baby and his mother.

 

“Hello,” Rose said in a voice that was more cheerful than she felt. “I’d shake your hand, but I’m a bit tied up at the moment.”

 

The Captain lowered to one knee with one hand on his chest, bowing his head. “M’lady, I am overwhelmed that you would consent for a lowly star ship captain as myself to touch the hand of the Holy Mother.”

 

Rose sighed and rolled her eyes at that title again. She saw that the rest of the bridge crew had their heads lowered with their hands over their chests. ‘Well, if this had been for real, it certainly would have proved a point’ she thought. These people were in awe of her and EJ, as though they were gods.

 

“So Mrs. Smith, what do you think now of the prophecy and your son’s destiny?” his Eminence asked.

 

“I have to admit, that was a pretty good reception. Er, shouldn’t everyone turn around and start flyin’ the ship again?” she said.

 

The crew took this as a command and turned back to their stations. Rose looked around the bridge and marvelled at the architecture. It was a beautifully artistic room, not just functional, but pleasing on the eye. The front of the room was a large window looking out onto the stars ahead of the ship, with a variety of flight data projected onto it.

 

Either side of the window were large display screens showing images of planets and star fields. In front of the window was a long, curved control desk manned by half a dozen lizards wearing grey uniforms.

 

“Well Mrs. Smith I have kept my part of the bargain, what do you say?”

 

She wanted to say ‘I wish he’d bleedin hurry up’. Why did he always cut these things so fine? She was starting to suspect that he did it on purpose as a perverse way of getting an adrenalin rush.

 

He would tell her he was a Time Lord and always arrived exactly when he was meant to. Talking of which, the left hand display screen stopped showing a star field and started to flicker and distort as a new video image imposed itself on the screen.

 

Rose’s spirits soared when she saw that perfect, white smile.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. My name is Jack Harkness and I believe you have a couple of friends of mine,” He said cheerfully.

 

“Ah, there they are! How’ya doin’ Rosie?”

 

Rose smiled and moved her arms to one side to show him the handcuffs. “Same as usual,” she said with a laugh.

 

“Mmmm, kinky,” Jack said with an evil grin.

 

Rose blushed and had an embarrassed smile on her face. “Oh don’t go there Jack, just don’t.”

 

“I can tell you now people, the Doc isn’t going to like that. If I were you, I’d take those off before he gets there.”

 

His Eminence looked furious. “Captain, get that clown off the screen NOW!”

 

The captain stepped forwards to the control desk. “Comms, shut it off now,” he commanded.

 

The comms officer operated a few controls and started to look flustered, what with his commanding officer looking over his shoulder.

 

“I’m sorry sir, the signal won’t terminate. It seems to have locked the console.”

 

“That would be my fault,” Jack told them with a grin. “It’s an R.S.V.P hyperwave subspace carrier. I’m afraid your comms array has accepted a reverse charge call and it won’t disconnect until I tell it to.” He winked at Rose. “I must get me one of these for my phone.”

 

Rose actually laughed, even in this potentially dangerous situation, she felt safer with Jack on the screen, even if he wasn’t there in person.

 

“Now ladies and gentlemen, time for the main event. May I bring to your attention the sound of time and space being distorted out of shape, and the appearance of an object to your left.”

 

‘What the hell’, Rose thought to herself. That noise, the noise she could feel in her head and her chest. That impossible noise. It couldn’t be.

 

The bridge filled with the wheezing sound of the universe breathing. It was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard, one that she thought she would never hear again. And then she saw a sight that she thought she would never see again. Slowly, a blue wooden box started to fade into existence.

 

The captain moved quickly to his command chair and opened the intercom. “Security to the bridge on the double.” The speaker was silent. “Security acknowledge.” Still silence. “Comms, go get security here, now!” he shouted at the officer on the control desk.

 

“At once sir.” the young lizard ran towards the red doors that normally swished open as you approached them. This time they didn’t swish and he ran face first into the solid metal door.

 

“Ouch, that’s gotta hurt. Sorry about that, the Doctor’s ship is blocking all the bridge command functions. I’m afraid you’re on your own to face the Oncoming Storm and the Valiant Mother,” Jack told them.

 

The blue police box had fully materialised now and the right hand door opened inwards. A man in a blue suit, red plimsolls and impossibly sticky up hair stepped out of the box.

 

“Taxi for Smith?” he said with a grin.

 

“JOHN!” Rose squealed with delight and ran up to him, burying her face in his shoulder as he hugged her. She looked up into his gorgeous brown eyes and saw the look of a man in complete control. He leaned down and kissed her hard on the lips.

 

She thought she heard a familiar whistling, warbling sound as the handcuffs clicked open and fell to the floor. She reached around and pulled him into a fierce hug.

 

“John?! How.... What.... Where?” She had so many questions.

 

“Ahem!” They heard Jack clear his throat. “Sorry to break up the party you two, but there is the pressing matter of a room full of potentially hostile lizards.”

 

“Apprehend that man!” his Eminence commanded. “He is dangerous, and he has come to take the Kaliq-Farrash away.” Various crew members got to their feet and made a move towards John and Rose.

 

Rose noticed that Elishka had move to the back of the room to protect her son. As the crew slowly approached, Rose grabbed the staff of office from his Eminence and swirled it around her head and in a figure of eight around her body and let it come to rest pointing at the crew.

 

“He might be dangerous,” Rose said in a low, menacing voice through gritted teeth. “But I’m bloody lethal.”

 

The thing is, the crew believed her. She had taken on a legendary status among the crew from an overheard conversation when she was brought on board in a casket.

 

His Eminence had been describing her fight with the mercenary, and the need to keep her safe by paralysing her. A passing crewman had heard snippets of the details and told a friend.

 

With the next telling, she had broken the arm of one and gouged the eyes of another. Soon she had broken the neck of a third mercenary and made a eunuch of a fourth. Her latest exploits had her shooting an extra three men before being taken down with a tranquiliser. No wonder they had her paralysed.

 

No one was going to risk approaching when she had a wooden staff in her hands, not without some sort of semi automatic weapon.

 

She had grabbed the staff because she knew John wouldn’t hit anyone. He could defend himself alright, but he didn’t like to attack. He exasperated Andy McNab in the basic combat training when he wouldn’t hit back.

 

The other trainees had been reluctant to spar with a man they knew wouldn’t hit back, so McNab decided he would have to slap him a bit to provoke him. It was for his own good after all.

 

John’s superior Gallifreyan reflexes meant that he could dodge, deflect or block anything that was thrown at him. McNab had never seen anything like it in all his long years with the SAS.

 

John had quoted an old Chinese general he once knew called Sun Tzu. ‘Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting’.

 

While Rose held the crew at bay with the threat of a serious beating from a seriously ‘pissed off’ mother, John went over to Elishka to fetch EJ.

 

“Hello Elishka, thank you for being so protective of my son. He really likes you, he told me so.”

 

The handmaiden looked astonished. “How did you know my name? What do you mean ‘he told you so’?”

 

John smiled at her kindly. “It’s complicated,” is all he’d say, as he walked back to stand next to Rose. He put his hand on the staff and gently encouraged her to lower the tip to the floor. He was going to use words, not weapons; he would shame them into submission.

 

“Right you lot. Do you know what the Shadow Proclamation think about kidnappers?” he asked the room.

 

“No? Well let me tell you, they don’t like ‘em. And do you know what the Shadow Proclamation think of kidnappers who subdue their victims by paralysing them and putting them on a ventilator?”

 

He looked directly at his Eminence. “I would leave that one as a surprise if I were you, because believe me, you really don’t want to know.”

 

He then looked back at the rest of the crew. “And why are you all facing this well deserved, if not terrible punishment? Because you blindly followed a fool who blindly followed someone else’s interpretation of a prophecy.”

 

Cradling EJ in the crook of his elbow, he put his other arm around Rose’s shoulder. She instinctively reached around his waist.

 

“My son is a hybrid son of hybrid parents, I’ll give you that. I suppose you could say that my wife is a Human-She Wolf, I’ll give you that one as well.” He grinned at Rose and waggled his eyebrows.

 

“And I’m definitely the Human-Gallifreyan born without parents, there’s only one of me, I’m unique.”

 

‘You’ve got that right’, Rose thought to herself.

 

“How is it possible that you know the prophecy?” his Eminence asked incredulously.

 

“Let’s just say I was listening when you told Rose,” he said. “But where does it say that he has to be kidnapped when he’s five months old and taken to another world to grow up, so that he can unite the seven worlds and warring factions in a golden age of peace? Eh? Tell me that.”

 

He was met by silence. “When my son grows up, if he’s anything like his parents, I believe he will be your Messiah.” Rose shot him a look of disbelief, but she saw the sincerity on his face, it was there for all to see.

 

“It probably won’t be anything like you’re expecting, these things rarely are. But to achieve that, he has to grow with his family, where he will be loved and he will learn to love.”

 

“He will learn that to do the right thing, you sometimes have to do the wrong thing. He will learn courage and compassion, respect and humility, all the character traits that he will need to become the person he is meant to be.”

 

“I have been a fool,” the old lizard said quietly, looking even older and frailer than he did before. “I was so wrapped up in fulfilling the prophecy for the needs of the many, that I forgot to consider the needs of the few.”

 

Rose looked at John. “Wasn’t that from Star Trek?” she whispered. John put his finger to his lips.

 

“Rather than saving my people from disaster, I have probably accelerated our demise. I am unworthy to hold the office of high priest president.”

 

Rose thought about her treatment at the hands of these lizards. She had been shot with a tranquiliser, she had been unceremoniously stripped, paralysed and put on a ventilator because they were afraid that she would fight back or escape (and she would have).

 

They had treated her as a piece of luggage, a chattel, her free will taken from her and left at their mercy. Even after all that, she looked at the broken old lizard in front of her and felt pity.

 

“John,” she said quietly. “Isn’t there something we can do for them?”

 

He looked into those gorgeous brown eyes with a look of pride, wonder, admiration and oh so much love for this amazing woman who had chosen him for her husband.

 

“After everything they’ve done to you and EJ you’d still help them?”

 

“Well, they didn’t actually do anything to EJ except treat him with the utmost respect, and Elishka took an oath to serve and defend us unto death,” she told him.

 

He leaned towards her and kissed her lovingly on the lips and then handed EJ to her.

 

“Right you lot, I want your attention. My wife, even after everything you have done to her, as asked for leniency for you.”

 

“Unbelievable!” Jack said from the screen.

 

“Tell me about it,” John said. “She never stops surprising me.”

 

He turned back to the assembled crew. “I will not contact the Shadow Proclamation at this time. However, that doesn’t mean I won’t contact them in the future if you try and pull a stunt like this again, and it doesn’t mean that you will go unpunished.”

 

He rubbed his hand through his hair as he thought. “Now for a suitable punishment? It should reflect the crime that you have committed, taking you away from your home and families for a period of time.”

 

He looked at the old lizard in front of him. “Your Eminence, you believe that the knowledge of the second coming is enough to stave off the threat of war?”

 

“Yes I do.”

 

“Then we will record a message for your people, a message that you will take to each world, a message of hope for the future, a message that you must convince your people is true. Can you do that?”

 

“I am the High Priest President, if I believe it, they will see it and believe it themselves,” he said with some semblance of pride.

 

“Then that is a fitting punishment that will benefit all.”

 


	8. Homeward bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Rose return home and Rose has her first flying lesson. Some loose ends are tied up in this chapter.

 

** Chapter 8 **

 

 

 

They were standing in front of the TARDIS; John had his arm around Rose’s shoulders, while she cradled EJ in her arms where he could be seen easily by the camera. His Eminence stood to her other side and was recording his piece to camera.

 

“Citizens of the Seven Systems, I bring to you this message of hope for the future. I speak of the age old prophecy of the second coming.”

 

With his arm he indicated Rose and John. “These people standing by me are the embodiment of the prophecy, and the child in his mother’s arms is the Kaliq-Farrash, our Messiah.”

 

“With true humility, they do not ask for the Holy titles that they are entitled to, instead asking to be known simply as John....”

 

John raised his hand, wiggled his fingers and said ‘hello’.

 

“And Rose Smith....”

 

“Hello,” she said with a smile.

 

“Hybrid parents to their hybrid son.” John had asked him to use the word hybrid rather than half breed; he felt it had less offensive connotations.

 

“Individually, John and Rose are extraordinary and exceptional people. Imagine if these character traits are combined in their son, he will be formidable.”

 

The camera panned over to John. “Our son will be raised in our culture, with our values. When the time is right, our son, of his own volition and free will, shall return to you and rescue you from yourselves. This is our oath.”

 

The camera panned back to his Eminence. “In honour of this gracious gesture, the crew of this ship have taken their own oath along with me, to not return to our home until we have visited every city on every world and spread the word.”

 

The camera finally went to Rose and EJ. “Don’t despair too much at the time it takes to grow up, the passage of time for us is different than that for other people. Keep an eye out for the blue box....” She nodded her head backwards to indicate the TARDIS behind them. “It may appear sooner than you think.”

 

“Ooh, nicely done,” Jack said from the monitor.

 

“Thank you,” Rose said with a mock curtsey.

 

“Right, time to get you two home,” John said. “And you lot, remember the alternative of the Shadow Proclamation when you think about quitting this task.”

 

“We will not quit,” the captain said. “We know the debt we must pay.”

 

John opened the door of the TARDIS and stepped inside, Rose following behind. Before she stepped into the TARDIS, she stooped down and picked up the handcuffs. She looked at Jack on the screen and gave him a mischievous smile and a wink, before stepping aboard and closing the door.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

The old TARDIS that Rose had first known had rearranged itself after the time war and had been born of anger, rage and guilt from the emotions of the ninth regeneration of the Doctor, this gave the decor a rather Gothic and moody feel.

 

The first thing Rose noticed about their TARDIS was the light, homely feel that mirrored their home in Notting Hill. The coral struts were white marble with cornice mouldings and oak panelling.

 

Rose stood in the middle of the console room and turned on the spot, looking around with her mouth open in wonder.

 

“Oh John, this is wonderful. I don’t know where to start.”

 

She marshalled her thoughts. “Where did you get a TARDIS from?” was her first question.

 

“Wellll, I know you were a bit distracted at the time, what with the snogging and all that, but don’t you remember me throwing a lump of TARDIS at me?”

 

Rose thought back to that day on the beach when they had been dropped of to start their new life together. “I’d forgotten about that,” she said. “Dr Donna said somethin’ about acceleratin’ the growth.”

 

“That’s right. What she suggested would have taken nearly a decade. But once I’d got the suggestion, I was able to develop the idea. I invented a sort of pressure cooker to do the job in a couple of years.”

 

“So you grew her from scratch?” Rose stroked the cool marble strut and felt the familiar hum of a TARDIS.

 

“Yeah. Once we bought our house and I built my lab, I started it going, out of the way in the corner. It was going to be your birthday present as it was ready in April.”

 

“And you managed to accelerate it even more?”

 

“No, couldn’t do it any faster, it still took until April,” he said mysteriously.

 

Rose gave a confused laugh. “Hang on, what’re you on about?”

 

“Er, you’re in a time machine,” he said with a grin. He could see she was still puzzled. “It’ll be easier to explain when we get home.”

 

Rose examined the Time Rotor console, which was still six sided, but seemed neater and more 21st century. It had less of the scrap yard about it and more of the computer retail store.

 

Looking around the domed room, she saw comfortable high tech car seats, flight couches that wouldn’t be out of place on the space shuttle, a playpen with a variety of soft toys and activity centres.

 

She dropped the handcuffs on one of the car seats, smiling to herself in anticipation of using them later. A thought then occurred to her.

 

“Hang on, how did you take these handcuffs off?”

 

John grinned and reached into his jacket pocket. He looked confused when he pulled out a leather phone case.

 

“Oh, that’s yours,” he told her, handing her the phone.

 

“I thought I’d lost this for good.”

 

“The kidnappers dropped it behind a hedge to slow us down.”

 

He rummaged a bit more and pulled out a brand new sonic screwdriver.

 

“The ‘young girl’ made it for me! Isn’t it brilliant?! I told her I’d be needing one, so she knocked it up for me.”

 

“She can do that? That’s brilliant.” She was looking at her phone. “Does this mean I now get the universal roaming function again?”

 

“Why not find out? Give Jackie a ring and tell her we’re on our way back home.”

 

Rose touched the speed dial for her Mum and heard it ring.

 

“Rose? Is that you?” Jackie asked anxiously.

 

“Hi Mum, it’s me.” She could hear her Mum starting to sob.

 

“Oh sweetheart, I thought I’d never hear from you again, we were so worried. Are you and EJ alright?”

 

“We’re fine Mum, honestly.” Rose had started crying herself at hearing her Mum’s worried voice. “It was terrifyin’ at first, but then we were really well looked after. We’re on our way back Mum, so I’ll see you later and tell you all about it.”

 

“Okay sweetheart we’ll see you later. Give EJ a kiss from his Nan.”

 

Rose ended the call and then spotted something really ‘cute’, a child car seat anchored to one of the marble struts

 

“Oh John that’s brilliant, EJ’s even got his own little jump seat.” She went over and fastened him into his special seat. She had an enormous smile on her face.

 

She went over to John and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly on the lips. He put his hands on her hips. “This is perfect, our own TARDIS. I always dreamed about somethin’ like this but never thought it would be possible. Thank you. Thank you for this, and thank you for coming to get us.”

 

“You are most welcome my love. Y’know I love the sound of what you said then, ‘our TARDIS’, our very own TARDIS. How would you like to pilot your first flight in our very own TARDIS?”

 

“WHA?! Are you serious? Me, pilot the TARDIS? Really?”

 

“Of course, when I gave you my Gallifreyan name, not only did you get my ability to speak Gallifreyan, you also got my understanding of the TARDIS.”

 

Rose squealed with delight and excitement. John loved the way she did that; it made her look so youthful and full of life.

 

“When can I start?” she asked him.

 

“No time like the present.” He held out his hand and wiggled his fingers. Rose took his hand and hugged his arm as they went over to the console.

 

“She’s done a lovely job of organising the flight console,” he said as he stroked the instrument panel. “It’s more logical and user friendly.”

 

“Okay, so what do I do first?” she asked.

 

“Right. First you’re going to activate the door lock mechanism; you don’t want the doors flying open in the middle of the vortex.” He pointed to a lever and she pulled it down.

 

“Now to set the 3-dimensional spatial coordinates. I’ve cleared a parking space in my lab, but we won’t risk trashing that, so what about the rear lawn at your parent’s house?”

 

“Good idea,” she nodded with a smile. John moved in close behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder so that he could see what she was doing. Without thinking she reached up and stroked his cheek.

 

He continued his narrative. “Now to set the temporal coordinates. This first column is our current, personal timeline. The second column is the target temporal destination.” Circular patterns intertwined and rotated on the display.

 

Rose suddenly stopped, eyes wide in wonder, mouth open. She could hear angels singing in her head, it sounded like Enya singing on a Vangelis soundtrack. “John, I can hear Gallifreyan,” she whispered. It filled her soul with so much joy that she felt she could cry.

 

“It’s the TARDIS,” he told her. “Listen to her, work with her, she’ll help you navigate. You’re doing just fine. Carry on.”

 

She turned dials and set a lever with John’s instruction. “Ah. Do you see how that call has affected the paradox avoidance circuit? The paradox indicator has turned red for those coordinates so you’ll have to advance the temporal coordinates forward a few hours. We’ll have to arrive in the morning. There we are it’s gone back to green now.”

 

John kissed her ear in appreciation. “And now?” he said, pointing at a switch.

 

“And now you’ll have to stop doing that or I’ll crash,” she breathed.

 

“Sor-ry,” he sing-songed.

 

“Now we power up the atom accelerator.” She flicked the indicated switch.

 

“Release the time rotor handbrake.” She disengaged the indicated lever.

 

“Activate the inertial dampers, engage the harmonic generator, release the locking down mechanism, pull the engine release lever, activate the materialise/dematerialise function, and gradually increase the space-time throttle and…”

 

The time rotor started to slowly pump up and down as TARDIS wheezed its way into the vortex. “Hey Presto, we’re in the vortex.” She turned in his arms, put her arms around his neck and kissed him.

 

“While we are waiting, why don’t we grab EJ and go and explore?” he asked her.

 

With EJ in the crook of his elbow, they set off to see what they could find. The first room they found was a bespoke Bulthaup kitchen/dining room that was a pretty good match for the one back at their house.

 

“She’s used the telepathic link to see what we would like. When she was configuring the chameleon circuit, she nearly turned into a Delorian,” he laughed.

 

They had a cup of tea and some cake before setting off to find more rooms. The library was only partly finished, but the medical bay was spectacular, fitted with the latest scanners, utensils and treatment devices.

 

They found a nursery, which had been lovingly fitted out by the TARDIS. The swimming pool was Olympic sized, with diving boards and fun slides and a surf trainer. There was a gymnasium, media room, games room and various guest rooms.

 

On their way back to the console room, they found the master bedroom, which had a circular, anti gravity bed.

 

“Oooh! We are definitely coming back to try that out,” Rose breathed seductively in his ear. “And I don’t mean for sleepin’”

 

John squeaked slightly as she squeezed his bum.

 

Back in the console room, John secured EJ in his jump seat ready for the landing, and then joined Rose at the console.

 

“You now have to configure the TARDIS for landing,” John explained.

 

“Landings are the tricky bits.”

 

Rose thought about all the rough landings she had experienced over the years, most of them with her ending up on her bum.

 

“Tell me about it!” she said, flashing her tongue in teeth smile.

 

“So, listen to the TARDIS, what’s she saying to you?”

 

Rose tilted her head to one side and gazed ahead. “Let me see… Gradually decrease the space-time throttle and put the time forwards/backwards controls into neutral. What next?”

 

Her eyes searched over the console and saw a light flashing. “Oh yes, activate the harmonic generator, thanks TARDIS. The galaxy is moving at 300 kilometres per second that way. The Sun and all the planets are travelling at 250 kilometres per second in that direction. The orbital velocity of the Earth is 30 kilometres per second and its rotational velocity is 500 metres per second. If we compensate for all of these movements, the TARDIS should be stationary when I activate the materialise/dematerialise function.”

 

“My brilliant Rose Smith, Time Lord Wife,” he said with a proud grin, pulling her into a hug.

 

The TARDIS vibrated slightly and gave a shudder before the time rotor stopped. John winked at her and gave her his best smile, the one especially for her. Rose went around the console taking the various sections offline.

 

“Thank you TARDIS, I couldn’t have done that without you,” Rose said to the ceiling. She went to the column where EJ’s seat was and hugged the marble strut, giving it a kiss as well.

 

The TARDIS hummed in acknowledgement.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

Jackie took the phone from her ear and through teary eyes she found Pete’s speed dial number and dialled. Pete picked up quickly.

 

“Jacks, I was just about to call you....”

 

“Pete, shut up and listen. Rose has just called! They’re on their way back. Can you come home?” she asked him.

 

“I know love; I was in the Operations room with Jack observing the rescue.”

 

“Wha?! And you didn’t think to tell me?” she asked him indignantly.

 

“Sorry love, it happened so quickly and was all a bit hush-hush, and John didn’t let us know what was happening until the last minute.”

 

“That’s bloody typical of him; no sense of time that one. Anyway, are you gonna be here when they get back or what?”

 

Pete chuckled; he knew a command from his wife when he heard it.

 

“We are just finishing up here. Jack and myself will be there in about an hour, see you soon love.”

 

True to his estimation, Pete and Jack arrived back at the mansion an hour later.

 

They had a late supper in the dining room and Pete explained that they probably wouldn’t be back until morning as they were light years away in an alien star ship. Reluctantly, Jackie went to bed and had a fitful sleep.

 

The morning eventually arrived and Jackie was sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen with Pete and Jack, eating toast and drinking tea. Pete had told her that they wouldn’t be going into work until John, Rose and EJ had returned.

 

I wonder how they’re gettin’ back.” Jackie mused. She’d forgotten to ask Rose about that when she’d phoned. “Does this ship have to land at an airport or somethin’?”

 

Pete and Jack looked at each other and grinned.

 

Now, Pete had heard a lot about the TARDIS, he had even seen it once at Lambeth Pier when he first met the Doctor, Rose and Mickey, never realising that they would become an integral part of his life.

 

However, until now he had never heard it, so when Jackie’s eyes went wide with amazement and Jack had a grin that was surely too wide for his face, he knew that the sound that he was hearing could only be one thing.

 

“Wha?! How? That’s impossible!” Jackie said.

 

“Of course it is,” Jack said. “It’s the Doctor.”

 

They looked at each other and slowly turned their heads to look out of the large kitchen window and over the lawn. Sure enough, a familiar blue box was appearing on the lawn.

 

“TONY! TONY! THEY’RE HERE,” Jackie shouted as she leapt off the stool. They heard a thundering of footsteps down the stairs as they headed for the door. A Tony shaped missile shot past them, leaping down the steps and across the lawn.

 

The time travellers stepped out of the TARDIS as Tony approached at speed. Rose could see where he was heading and put EJ’s carry-seat on the ground.

 

He leapt up and grabbed Rose around her neck and squeezed. “Rosieeee. I missed you,” he squealed as they spun around, laughing. Rose had tears in her eyes.

 

Jackie was sobbing, covering Rose’s face in kisses. “We thought we’d never see you again {sob}.

 

Pete hugged John and Rose, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Jack hugged and kissed them both.

 

Tony leapt up and grabbed John in a hug. John closed his eyes and hugged him tenderly. When he opened his eyes they glistened with tears. “Tony, how are you?” he asked with his voice full of emotion.

 

“I’m fine John, I missed you too,” he said.

 

Jackie took EJ out of the seat and gave him a kiss on his forehead before rocking him in her arms and babbling at him.

 

Jackie went over to John and looked him in the eye.

 

“Well, look at you, aren’t you full of surprises. Where’d ya get that thing then?” she said nodding at the TARDIS.

 

“It sort of grew in my lab.” He gave her a lopsided smile.

 

“Well I’m glad it did, because it means I’ve got Rose and EJ back. Thank you.” She leaned forwards and kissed him on the cheek, and then gave him a smirk. “I see your drivin’ hasn’t improved any though.”

 

John turned to look at the TARDIS and saw a furrow, 2 metres long where the TARDIS had dragged along the lawn when materializing.

 

Rose sheepishly raised a hand. “Er... That was me Mum. I was drivin’,” she confessed. “My spatial compensation was off by 6 millimetres per second.”

 

Jackie rolled her eyes. “I’m not surprised if He’s teachin’ ya,” she laughed. “Come on, I know it’s early but let’s go and crack open the champagne.”

 

John scooped up Tony and hoisted him onto his shoulders where he held onto John’s wild hair. Rose’s hand slipped once again into its natural receptacle that was John’s hand.

 

Alistair brought the champagne up from the wine cellar and poured it into the glasses. Pete came up to him and spoke quietly in his ear.

 

“Could I have a word in private,” he asked and nodded to the door.

 

“Of course sir.” They went into the hallway.

 

“Jackie tells me you had the afternoon off yesterday and left unexpectedly.”

 

“Er, yes sir. I found the news of your daughter and grandson’s kidnap very distressing. I just felt I needed some time alone to gather my thoughts and get my emotions under control.”

 

“Of course, quite understandable. It was a terrible shock for all of us,” Pete said, hesitating before he continued.

 

“So you wouldn’t know anything about an anonymous phone call to Torchwood and a message that was left for Captain McNab?”

 

Alistair smiled. “No sir. Is there any reason I should?”

 

“No, no reason. It’s just that the anonymous person led us to the kidnappers.  We were able to apprehend them and get valuable information that led us to Rose and EJ.”

 

“I am so glad that the anonymous message was of help then.”

 

Pete grinned. “If that anonymous person were here now, I would say ‘thank you from Jackie and me for all that you’ve done for us’.”

 

Alistair nodded. “Then it’s a shame the anonymous person isn’t here, because I’m sure they would say ‘you are most welcome my friends’.”

  
Pete held out his hand to Alistair. Slowly he took his hand and shook it, each man looking into the eyes of the other, understanding what had been said, and more importantly what had not.

 


	9. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, the last of the loose ends are tied up in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I actually wrote the Christmas bit in the middle of a heatwave!)  
> The bedroom scene in the TARDIS, although not explicit, is a bit racy. I think it shows their love for each other, trust of one another and their adventurous nature when it comes to having fun in the bedroom.

 

** Chapter 9 **

 

 

 

“Commander, we have detected a temporal distortion on the surface, and a source of artron energy has just appeared,” the science officer announced.

 

“Show me.” On the main display screen, technical data was displayed about the distortion along with location information.

 

“Set a course for the planet. Put the ship in a stationary orbit above the energy source. Send out the standard contact message.”

 

“I will obey,” the helmsman said.

 

“I will obey,” the communication officer said.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

‘BIOHAZARD! DO NOT ENTER! BY ORDER OF DIRECTOR P. TYLER’, the sign on the door to John’s lab read.

 

“Biohazard? John, what’s happened? Is everything alright?” Rose asked, concerned that there had been an accident and that he may have been infected with some alien virus.

 

“Everything is fine,” he smiled. “It’s just to keep any nosey parkers from trying to go in and have a look.”

 

John put the two carrier bags of groceries that they had bought from the supermarket into the serving hatch. They contained bananas, tea, sugar, cartons of milk, bread, cooked meats etc.

 

“That’s new,” Rose noticed. “I don’t remember seeing that before.”

 

A few seconds later she heard the inner hatch open.

 

“John, there’s someone in there.”

 

“I know…. it’s me.” Rose looked at him open mouthed.

 

“What do you mean it’s you?”

 

“It’s a bit complicated. C’mon, let’s go to the restaurant and I’ll try to explain.”

 

They sat in the comfy chairs in the beverage area of the Torchwood restaurant with two teas on the low table. Rose had taken EJ out of the carry-sling and was cradling him in her arms.

 

“Do you remember when you said ‘Well we haven’t got a TARDIS anymore, we’ll just have to take the slow road’?” Rose nodded.

 

“Well, Pete had said pretty much the same thing earlier and it got me thinking about the chunk of TARDIS that was growing in my lab at home. It won’t be ready until the beginning of April, but I wanted you and EJ home now, today.”

 

“Yeah, and here we are. So how’d ya do it? You said you couldn’t accelerate it any more.”

 

“That’s right I couldn’t, so it’s still growing in my lab, right now.”

 

“Hang on, isn’t that going to cause a paradox if in April, you come back here and rescue me?”

 

John leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “You are so smart. I love you.”

 

He continued. “I can’t and couldn’t risk that, so I had to isolate myself from this time line. I will stay in my lab until the TARDIS is ready, not interacting with anyone or anything. That means I can safely go back and rescue you without two realities trying to cancel each other out.”

 

“Oh John, that’s brilliant. But that means you are trapped in there for four months! That’ll drive you stir crazy.”

 

“You’d think so wouldn’t you, but do you know what kept me going? The thought of seeing you two again and having you home for Christmas.”

 

John was still in his blue ‘Doctor’ suit. She grabbed the lapels and pulled him into a snog. “Mmmmm, I love you so much. To think that you would put yourself through that for us.”

 

“I looked forward to that even more,” he breathed.

 

“So we just bring groceries and put them in the hatch, and you sweat it out until April. Am I allowed to give you little notes or anything?”

 

“You have to be careful, nothing that gives any information about events external to the lab. Declarations of undying love and how sexy you think I am are fine,” he said with a grin. “I shall be keeping me updated on certain issues without jeopardizing the time line.”

 

As they finished their cups of tea, the media screen above the service counters showed the words ‘CODE RED’, and a gentle bonging noise was coming from the ceiling speakers.

 

John’s phone started playing the theme from the Godfather and he answered it quickly as Rose got EJ back into the sling in front of her.

 

“Pete, what’s up?” Rose watched his face as he listened to her father telling him the situation. He didn’t look too worried, more interested if anything.

 

“Okay, we’re on our way up.”

 

“What is it?” she asked him as they headed for the door.

 

“Saucer shaped craft heading for us from the moon, and we’re being hailed.”

 

"Okay, what have we got on the telescopes?" John asked as he walked into the Operations room.

 

The large HD screen showed a view of space and a saucer shaped craft.

 

Rose and Jack both gasped. "John, I know that ship," Rose said.

 

John nodded. "Yeah, so do I. Respond to their hail, let's see who we're dealing with."

 

The view of space faded and was replaced by the commander of the approaching ship.

 

“Dear God no!” Pete said with dread.

 

“We are Dalek, we will speak with the owner of the artron energy equipment,” a screechy mechanical voice said. The sidelights of the oversized pepper pot flashed as it spoke; the single eyestalk looked directly at the camera.

 

“Not in this universe as well,” Jack said.

 

“Have they broken down the walls of the universe again John,” Rose asked.

 

“No, we’d have detected that. Let’s not be too hasty here, don’t forget we’re in a different universe.”

 

He looked up at the screen. “Hello, I’m the Doctor. What can I do for you?”

 

“We are explorers. We are curious. The technology is not compatible with this planets technology, explain!”

 

“You are correct, it is not of this world, and neither am I,” John said. “I too am an explorer and curious. May I ask you if Davros was your creator?”

 

“You know of Davros?” the commander asked. “He instigated the Mark III Travel Machine program for the Kaleds; however he was declared clinically insane and was replaced by Keltos, who completed our development. We explore new worlds; we seek out new life and civilisations to share information.”

 

‘And boldly go where no one has gone before,’ Rose thought to herself with a smile. What was it with this world and it’s obsession with quoting Star Trek.

 

“Then you would have extensive star charts,” John said hopefully.

 

“Affirmative. We will trade information with you.”

 

“Yes!” John said. “Result.” He smiled at Rose, his eyes sparkling. “We get up-to-date star charts for the TARDIS, brilliant.”

 

“Can I come aboard your ship with my navigational computer and download the charts directly?”

 

“That will be acceptable, we will make preparations.”

 

“John, is that safe? I mean, look, they’re Daleks,” Rose said with concern.

 

“Yeah, but they are not Davros’s Daleks, they are not homicidal maniacs.” John suddenly had a thought, if there were Daleks, then what if there were....

 

“Do your charts tell of a world called Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous?”

 

“In the early formation of the galaxy, Gallifrey was consumed by the Untempered Schism, an opening in the space/time continuum.”

 

“Ah,” John said, obviously disappointed. “That explains why there are no Time Lords around,” he said to Rose. She took his hand and squeezed it, trying to give him some comfort.

 

“Ah well, things to do. I’ll go and get my ship and I’ll be right over.”

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

John was a prisoner.

 

He was floating face down in an anti gravity field, his clothing removed and his wrists handcuffed behind his back. He was waiting for his captor to perform some unmentionable torture.

 

He felt her hands grip his buttocks, her nails digging in ever so gently as she eased her body underneath him and slid up the length of his body, kissing each bit as she went.

 

He struggled against the restraints, not to escape; he never wanted to escape from this gorgeous woman who was attending to his needs. No, he was struggling because it heightened the sensations he was now experiencing.

 

It was torture! He couldn’t touch her, and she was teasing him by pulling away as he tried to kiss her. She was definitely in control.

 

Her fingers ran through his hair before making a fist and pulled his face forward into a sensual kiss. He groaned with pleasure as she wrapped her legs around his thighs and hugged his elbows tight into his body, straightening his arms and further restraining him.

 

They both gasped and cried out as ecstasy wracked their bodies and their linked minds. They just floated there above the bed in their room in the TARDIS, basking in the warm glow of post coital contentment.

 

His mind drifted back to last week and the visit to the Dalek ship. It had gone well and he had downloaded not only the coordinates of stars and planets, but information on species, societies, cultures, their technologies and their disposition.

 

The Daleks in this universe had been spared the madness and hatred of Davros, and the desire to rule supreme. Instead they desired to learn new things about their universe, and traded information between worlds, bringing them together into a galactic community.

 

He was brought out of his musings, when he tried to put his arms around Rose and realised they were still handcuffed behind him.

 

“You do realise,” John breathed into her ear. “That I don’t have any keys for these handcuffs.”

 

Rose gave him that tongue in the teeth smile. “I’m sure a smart bloke like you could think of somethin’.”

 

She leaned across and reached out to the bedside table and managed to reach the sonic screwdriver.

 

“Is it still set on ‘unlock’?” she asked him.

 

“Yeah, should be.” She reached her hand up and held the back of his head as she pulled him into another kiss. There was a whistling warbling and the handcuffs clicked open.

 

“Y’know when you stepped out of the TARDIS and kissed me, and you released me from these handcuffs?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Well, I couldn’t wait for you to put ‘em back on me,” she confided.

 

“Really? I thought you’d have been scared, what after all that you’d been through.”

 

Rose had talked to her friend Alice Dimaggio, the Torchwood counsellor, about her kidnap ordeal, particularly the paralysis bit.

 

“When you were on that airship, I could feel your terror when I joined minds with you,” John told her.

 

“That was because I didn’t know who they were, what they wanted or where they were taking me. I didn’t know there were extraterrestrials involved, I thought it was because the family is rich. I thought they had paralysed me so that they could cut off fingers and send them with a ransom demand.”

 

“Oh Rose,” he said pulling her into a protective hug. “I had no idea. No wonder you were terrified.”

 

“But then my shining knight found a way to contact and reassure me. You helped me to keep it together and get through it. And then you did the impossible, like you usually do and rescued me in a TARDIS of all things.” She kissed his chest.

 

“So yeah, I’m fine with being your prisoner, because I love you, and trust you, and know that you would never do anythin’ to hurt me.”

 

“Well in that case Rose Tyler, my prisoner, put your hands behind your back,” he told her, waggling his eyebrows.

 

Rose smiled at him and did as she was told. He kissed her gently on the lips as the handcuffs clicked firmly in place.

 

“Now then prisoner Tyler, you are charged with being stubborn,” he said as he kissed her neck.

 

“Uh-huh,” she breathed, slowly writhing her body under him.

 

“Being insubordinate.” He nibbled her ear which made her groan.

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“And being far too clever for your own good. How do you plead?”

 

“Guilty as charged,” she purred into his ear.

 

“Then I have no option than to pass judgement and administer punishment.” He quickly tickled her in the ribs and she squealed with laughter. She tried to resist, but with her hands secured behind her she couldn’t defend herself.

 

“Haven’t the Shadow Proclamation got rules about torturin’ prisoners?” she asked between fits of giggles.

 

“That they do! And I expect to feel the full weight of their justice when I’ve finished with you.” He kissed her passionately and proceeded to show her how much he loved her (which was very much indeed, if the noises she made were anything to go by).

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

It was 07:00 Christmas morning, and Eyulf Smith was in his crib in the nursery, having a lie in. Rose’s eyes slowly flickered open and she was looking into the sparkling brown eyes of her husband.

 

“Hello,” he said, almost giggling.

 

“Hello.” She smiled lovingly at him. He was so cute when he was excited.

 

“Merry Christmas,” he said with another giggle.

 

“Merry Christmas Love,” Rose said as she kissed him on the cheek.

 

“Ooh, you’re awake are ya? Merry Christmas to you both,” Donna-the-house said.

 

“Thanks Donna,” they said. “Merry Christmas.”

 

John reached down his side of the bed and reached for a bag of presents for Rose.

 

“Oh thank you,” she said as she leaned forward and kissed him.

 

“And here’s yours,” she said as she reached down her side of the bed.

 

“Thanks Love.” He returned the kiss.

 

Rose unwrapped her first present, which was ‘To Mummy from EJ’. It was a silver locket that when opened, projected small holographic ‘heads’ of John and Eyulf.

 

The first present John opened was a gift box with a gift voucher for an adventure experience. He could pick from a number of different activities.

 

Rose had a similar voucher for a spa weekend where she could be pampered and treated like royalty. On the card, John had written that he and EJ would have a father son weekend while she was spoilt rotten.

 

‘To Daddy from EJ’, was a rectangular box. When he unwrapped it he had tears stinging his eyes. It was a police box filled with his favourite banana flavoured toffees.

 

Rose decided not to tell him about what happened after she bought it, she thought it might tarnish the gift.

 

Rose’s next present was quite unusual and John had worked on it for months while he was in quarantine. It was a card with a kind of tattoo transfer on a plastic sheet.

 

The transfer was her name in Gallifreyan, and looked like a fancy, swirly tattoo.

 

“This looks interesting,” she said to him, examining the pattern.

 

“Where would you like it?” he asked her, excited to show her how it worked. “You can take it off and put it on as many times as you like.”

 

“On my hip for now then,” she said with a saucy smile.

 

“Good choice.” He positioned the plastic sheet at the top of her thigh and smoothed it down firmly. He then peeled the plastic sheet off.

 

“John, that looks so real. It’s fantastic.”

 

“In more ways than you imagine,” he said mysteriously. “The tattoo is made up of millions of nanite circuits that link together to form a transponder.”

 

“Nanites? Are they like the nanogenes on that Chula ship?”

 

“Yeah, similar. After you went missing and we were looking for you, I would have loved to have had a gadget that could have told me where you were. I thought about jewellery, but that could be taken off you like they took your phone.”

 

He leaned over and kissed her thigh. “With this, who would think that a tattoo was a tracking device? It remains dormant until it receives a coded signal, or until you smack it three times in a row.”

 

Rose took his face in her hands and gently and slowly kissed him on the lips.

 

“That is the sweetest, most thoughtful gift I have ever received. I love it, I feel so much safer already, and I’m only lyin’ in bed. You must get Dad to produce these for the rest of the agents.”

 

Just then, Eyulf Jackson Smith decided it was time to wake up and celebrate Christmas with his parents. They got out of bed, put on their dressing gowns and went into the nursery to fetch him.

 

After his breakfast, they started to open his presents. He didn’t really know what was going on, but it was good fun ripping wrapping paper off the boxes.

 

He received lots of plastic toy cars, an airship, a boat and a train with circular track. His big present was an activity bouncing chair, where he could watch TV, press various buttons and knobs to make amusing noises, all while jumping up and down on the spot.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

“Merry Christmas,” Jackie said as Rose and John entered the lounge of Tyler mansion.

 

“Merry Christmas Mum. We’ve got some presents for you here.” Rose handed her a large red carrier with Santa and reindeers on it as they kissed.

 

“Oh you shouldn’t have sweetheart, but thank you very much. Your presents are under the tree. Let’s have a cuddle then,” she said as she held her hands out for her grandson.

 

Tony was on the floor playing with action figures from the latest blockbuster sci fi movie. After giving Jackie a peck on the cheek, John rummaged through the bags and found Tony’s presents.

 

They were, a spaceship used by the main hero in the movie which his action figure could sit in and fire plastic missiles, and some of the robots that helped save the day.

 

The lounge room door opened and Jack Harkness breezed in.

 

“Merry Christmas guys, how’s it going?” Everyone exchanged season’s greetings before sitting down and exchanging gifts. Pete then popped back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the lunch.

 

The house staff were off for the week to enjoy the holiday with their own families and friends, but the cook had popped in yesterday to prepared the lunch for them, all he had to do was put a light under it.

 

Rose went to find her Dad, who was wearing a comedy apron which made him look like he was wearing stockings and suspenders. Rose gave a laugh at the sight of him.

 

“John’s told you about his lab at Torchwood?”

 

Pete nodded. “Yeah, it’s all a bit too weird for me,” he told her with a smirk.

 

“Well, y’know when you serve up lunch, could you serve an extra place for Him?”

 

Pete knew what she meant and gave her a warm smile. “Of course sweetheart, it’s the least I can do.” He took some of the turkey and the vegetables and put them in a bowl.

 

“While you’re here, how’d ya like to puree that for EJ? The blender’s over there by the grill.”

 

The table in the dining room had been laid with a festive tablecloth and Christmas crackers for each of the guests, and everyone helped to bring through the trays and bowls of hot food. EJ was sat in his high chair, playing with his colourful plastic spoon and using it like a drumstick.

 

They sat down and started passing around the vegetables, chatting and laughing and having a thoroughly enjoyable family Christmas. They pulled their crackers and put on the paper hats.

 

Rose looked at John and remembered the Christmas at her Mom’s on the Powell estate, when he had first changed into his new body. John saw her looking at him with that faraway look in her eye and sensed what she was thinking.

 

He lifted his eyes towards the hat and looked back at her and gave her a smile and a wink.

 

 

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*

 

 

John opened the serving hatch outside his lab and Rose placed the insulated bag inside. She put two envelopes on top and a paper party hat. John placed a can of beer and an envelope of his own on the bag and closed the hatch.

 

“Merry Christmas,” Rose said quietly to the closed door. “This is so sad.”

 

“No, no it isn’t really,” John told her. “Although those Christmas cards brought a tear to my eye. I was happy because it meant my plan had worked, you were safe and we got to enjoy Christmas together.”

 

Rose gently stroked the door to his lab and then, hand in hand they walked away to return to the mansion and their family Christmas.

 

The inner hatch door clicked open.

 

The working space of his lab was quite messy, with bits of equipment, circuits and components spread over various work surfaces. The living space on the other hand was fairly tidy.

 

He had made the bed, cups and plates were washed and on the draining board, and the table was clear. The TV was on the movie channel playing ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’, which John loved because of the wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey-ness of it.

 

He took the insulated bag out of the hatch and placed it on the table, unzipping it and taking out a plate with a lid on it. It was his Christmas lunch and there was a plastic tub with some gravy.

 

“Mmmm, lovely.”

 

He put it in the microwave to heat it up and then sat down to eat. He put on the paper hat with a smile, ‘that’ll be Rose’s idea’, he thought to himself. He found a glass and poured the can of beer. While he was eating he opened the first of the envelopes.

 

It was a Christmas card, ‘To My Husband’, it read. Inside he read the words that Rose had written.

 

‘To my husband, my mirror man, my lover, my hero, my knight in shining armour, my magician who performs miracles. Thank you. I love you so much. Merry Christmas, love, Rose.’

 

He blinked back the tears, carried on eating and opened the smaller card.

 

‘To Daddy, the best Daddy in the universe. I love you. Merry Christmas, love, EJ.’ This time he wiped away a tear that had sneaked out and rolled down his cheek.

 

He finished his meal and heated the Christmas pudding with brandy sauce and opened the last envelope, which had his name on it written in Gallifreyan, it was a letter to himself. It contained careful information about his future that he needed to know that would keep the timeline safe and prevent any paradox from occurring.

 

‘Hello Me,

 

It worked! (Well obviously as I’m writing this letter). There are a few things you need to be aware of.

 

1\. When the TARDIS is ready, the first thing you should do his have a shower and brush your teeth because Rose will be up for a fantastic snog.

 

2\. Rose will be handcuffed, so you’ll need something to open them with.

 

3\. Her handmaiden took an oath to protect EJ with her life, so he’s safe. You can focus on the bridge crew, although Rose pretty much takes care of that. Make sure you watch, she is awesome and I am so proud of her.

 

4\. We have some old friends turn up, you know, the ones with the irritating screechy voices. All I can say is ‘don’t panic!’, this is an alternate universe.

 

5\. It’s started to snow, Merry Christmas.”

 

John finished his pudding and ate one of the mince pies. He raised his glass of beer in salute and thought about his friend Charles Dickens and his seminal work on Christmas.

 

“God bless us, every one,” he quoted and drank a toast to his family.

 


	10. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We leap ahead 18 years for the culmination of this story.

** Epilogue **

 

 

 

His Eminence, the High Priest President, holder of the sacred staff of office, was lying on his bed in his chamber. His ancient body had finally given up its struggle against the inevitability of the ravages of time.

 

His handmaiden Elishka, gently cradled his head as she lifted a cup to his lips. She had transferred her oath of allegiance to his Eminence, when her original charges disappeared in a blue wooden box.

 

“Here, drink this your Eminence,” she said quietly, encouraging him to take a sip of the invigorating drink.

 

“Thank you my dear,” he whispered kindly as he smiled. He coughed gently as she returned his head to the pillow.

 

Cardinals and bishops had been summoned to his bedside to stand witness to his final moments of existence. One of them would be selected as the next holder of the staff of office, and become the next High Priest President. They were all more than capable of fulfilling the role, and would all make excellent spiritual leaders.

 

It wasn’t the expected gathering of vultures, waiting impatiently for the death of an old lizard so that they could jump into his still warm shoes. Each of the assembled group had nothing but the greatest respect for the ancient lizard, who had personally encouraged and nurtured each one of them to achieve their current status.

 

They had been surprised when his Eminence had announced that the Kaliq-Farrash would not be returning to their world, but instead his Eminence would be travelling to the colonies to spread the word of the second coming.

 

It had been six years of travelling, lecturing and preaching, and on every world he showed the conviction of his beliefs, leaving no one in any doubt that the golden age was upon them. But the travelling had taken its toll on his already old and frail body.

 

His Eminence smiled as he remembered the beautiful noise that the wooden blue box had made when it had brought the Oncoming Storm that was the father of the Kaliq-Farrash. He could hear it now, filling his head and his body with the breath of the universe.

 

He saw Elishka’s eyes go wide and heard gasps from the assembled group. He turned his head in the direction that Elishka was staring, and saw the blue box slowly appearing in his chamber. A tear trickled down his cheek.

 

The right hand door opened and a tall young man bounced into the room. He was 19, had brown, unruly hair and wore a dark grey tracksuit with red trainers. There was no mistaking who this man was; he was the perfect blend of features from his parents. He had his father’s nose, and his mother’s eyes and smile.

 

“Hello,” he said cheerily. “I’m Eyulf, Eyulf Smith, but most people call me Wolfie. Except for Rebecca, that’s my girlfriend, she calls me Foxy.” He waggled his eyebrows and grinned. He had also inherited his father’s exuberance and passion, as well as his gob. He had his mother’s sense of humour, and her compassion.

 

His intense brown eyes scanned the room and came to rest on the old lizard who returned his stare. His Eminence wondered how quickly human children grew and how long they lived, when he remembered that Mrs Smith had said that the passage of time for them was different than that for other people.

 

“Hello your Eminence,” he said softly as he walked forward and stood at the bedside. Behind him, his parents stepped out of the TARDIS hand in hand, followed by an attractive 16 year old girl called Juleshka Suzette, and a 14 year old boy called Jason Peter, who was carrying a video camera on a tripod.

 

His Eminence raised a trembling hand and reached out towards the young man. Eyulf took his hand and held it gently.

 

“Y, you have returned,” he said with trembling voice.

 

“Of course, how could I not.” His eyes creased with a smile. “My parents made you a promise, and this family keeps its promises.”

 

John and Rose looked at each other and smiled with pride. They were so proud of all their children and what they had achieved.

 

Eyulf had taken six A levels when he was eight years old and passed with top marks. He could have been the youngest entrant into Oxford University, but he wanted to stay at school with his friends.

 

Rose knew how important school friends were for social development and agreed with his decision. Eyulf took his own textbooks to school and while his friends were studying normal secondary school subjects, he would be studying at degree level.

 

When he did get to Oxford at the age of 15, he was the first student ever to achieve three doctorates simultaneously. His sister and his brother were also exceptional students.

 

Eyulf looked up from the old lizard towards the handmaiden, her eyes wide in wonder.

 

“Elishka isn’t it?” he asked her and she nodded in surprise. “I remember you.... Welll, when I say I remember you, I remember a green and yellow lady.... Welll, I remember someone who was green and yellow and very kind,” he rambled.

 

Eyulf’s brother Jason, was setting the camera in position where it could take in most of the room. John and Rose came and stood either side of Eyulf and looked down at the old lizard.

 

His Eminence saw them and let out a sad gasp of despair. Tears started to flow from his old, tired eyes.

 

“I am so sorry for what I did to you,” he sobbed, his voice barely audible.

 

Rose stooped down and gently stroked the scales on his head. “You are forgiven your Eminence. You have paid your penance, and have achieved more than even you could have imagined.”

 

The old lizard had a confused look in his eyes as Rose stood and put her arm around John’s waist as his arm went around her shoulders. Eyulf knelt down by the old lizard and spoke to the camera.

 

“People of the Seven Worlds, I am the Kaliq-Farrash, and I have returned,” he started. This message was being routed through the TARDIS and being beamed to every city on every planet in the system.

 

“His Eminence, the High Priest President has spent the last six years travelling amongst you, telling you of my coming. You may not believe that I am the small child in my mother’s arms that you saw in that message.”

 

He looked up at his parents. “But here they are to stand witness to the truth of my words. Remember, I am the Kaliq-Farrash and I can choose to ignore the passage of time.”

 

He now spoke directly to the old lizard on the bed. “I have returned now because his Eminence is not long for this world, and I needed him to know what he has achieved.” His eyes seemed to look into the old lizard’s very soul.

 

“Your belief, your conviction, and the message you sent did more to unite the Seven Worlds than I ever could. People united behind the truth of your words, sharing your belief, then sharing your conviction, and then... just sharing. They started to talk to one another and they learned that they were not that different after all, that they had more in common than not, and could accept their differences.”

 

The old lizard smiled, he had a faraway look in his eyes as Eyulf leaned forwards to whisper in his ear.

 

“You did what you had to do. My father has done things in the past that he would rather not have done, but when you are faced with two evils, you are forced to choose,” he told him, trying to absolve him of his wrongdoing.

 

“I came at this time, because I wanted to share something with you before you go. May I?”

 

The old lizard nodded and Eyulf placed two fingers on each side of his scaly head. The old lizards eyes went wide in wonder and a blissful smile lit his face. He was shown the whole of time and space, his part in it, and the results of his labours for millennia to come.

 

“Oh,” he gasped. “This is.... wonderful. Thank you Kaliq- Farrash, so I was worthy after all?”

 

“Oh yes!” Eyulf breathed in his ear. “You were SO worthy.”

 

His Eminence closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh. He passed away with a contented smile on his face.

 

Eyulf stood and looked at the camera. “I am your Kaliq-Farrash, and although you do not need me, I will be there for you. When you do need me I will appear, while you don’t need me I will be watching over you.”

 

He looked over at his mother and gave her a playful grin. “May you live long and prosper.” He gave her a wink and Rose hid her laugh behind her hand.

 

He nodded to Jason who switched off the camera and started to pack it away as he walked over to Elishka.

 

“Elishka, I release you from your oath of fealty. Go and have a good life, enjoy yourself.” She curtsied.

 

He then walked over to the assembled cardinals and bishops. “You know who amongst you is best suited to follow in the footsteps of his Eminence. Choose wisely, and do not be too eager to follow portents until you have fully scrutinised them and are sure of their meaning.”

 

He turned and looked at his parents, and saw their pride in him glowing in their smiles. John raised his hands and started to clap. Rose quickly followed suit, along with Jason and Juleshka.

 

Elishka took up the applause and looked to the rest of the lizards, defying them not to applaud. Soon the whole chamber was filled with applause as Eyulf walked back to the TARDIS.

 

John slapped him on the back. “Nicely done son, nicely done.”

 

“I learnt from the best,” he said, smiling at his father.

 

Rose reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “You certainly did son. C’mon, let’s go home; Donna will have the tea on for us.”

 

They stepped into the TARDIS which slowly disappeared to the sound of applause.

 

 

**The End**


End file.
